The second model in BMW’s Neue Klasse electric-vehicle line is now undergoing cold-weather testing ahead of a 2026 debut.
BMW started pre-production of the first Neue Klasse model, a compact crossover, in November, and on Friday confirmed that it will debut at the 2025 Munich auto show in September. BMW also confirmed the iX3 name for this model, recycling a name first used on an electric version of the X3 that was never sold in the U.S.
Two days prior to that announcement, BMW posted a video on Instagram of an electric sedan testing in Sweden. This second Neue Klasse model is expected to wear BMW 3-Series badging, and may even be called the i3, bringing back the name of an innovative electric hatchback that was BMW’s first attempt at a volume electric car.
The original i3, which debuted in 2013 and ended production in 2022, featured an unusual (for BMW, at least) tall-and-narrow shape and unorthodox engineering, including a body structure made in part from carbon fiber-reinforced plastic. More than 250,000 were made during the i3’s nine-year production run.
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Prototype for electric BMW 3-Series based on Neue Klasse platform
The i3’s departure left BMW without a small, entry-level EV, something the automaker has wanted to rectify, development boss Frank Weber said in a 2023 interview. Weber said the i3 successor wouldn’t have the “polarizing design” of the original, though. Perhaps this Neue Klasse model, sporting a more conventional sedan shape and minimalist styling previewed by a 2023 concept car, is it.
Named after the family of models credited with saving BMW in the 1960s, the Neue Klasse represents a new phase in EV engineering for the automaker. BMW has been teasing technical details for some time, confirming an 800-volt electrical architecture, a switch to cylindrical battery cells and front induction motors, and a chassis-control unit dubbed Heart of Joy.
