It's settled: The all-electric variant of the BMW M3 will just be called "M3"

15 July 2026

In an interview for Auto Express, the boss of the BMW M division, Frank van Meel, confirmed that the all-electric variant of the upcoming M3 sports sedan will carry the same badge as its ICE counterpart, meaning no "i" in the "M3" name. It will simply be called "M3".

This signals BMW's confidence in the upcoming high-performance, battery-powered vehicle. The company wants people to see the electric option as part of the family, not a separate lineup.

And it makes sense to some extent. The Neue Klasse architecture underpins both the electric and ICE X3 and X5 models, although there's still a distinction in those series as the EV iterations are marked as iX3 and iX5.

In fact, BMW says the electric M3 will be the fastest M3 ever made. It's said to feature four electric motors, but we still don't know any details. All we know is that the Neue Klasse architecture's limit is 1,341 hp, while some sources indicate that the base model will boast 700 hp peak output. This means that even with the base electric configuration, the new M3 will easily outpace all previous M3 generations.

BMW has already revealed the concept (see the pictures above), but a real, camo-wrapped M3 has also seen daylight. The vehicle was teased back in January along with a promise to bring the vehicle to life by 2027.

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