All clues are pointing to the facelifted BMW 3-er to be sporting an all-electric powertrain option.
With BMW going all out in its electrification endeavours recently, it should really come as no surprise that its ever-popular 3-Series will soon be powered by electricity in the future. The rather surprising thing however is that the German automaker seems to not be wanting to wait for its next iteration to transition towards fully-electric drive, as recent spy shots suggest instead that the facelifted G20-generation will already be primed for an EV option.
Now details regarding this all-electric 3-Series is predictably thin on the ground at present, with BMW not even officially confirming the existence of it to date. A smattering of spy shots though of a mildly disguised 3-er with ‘Electric Test Vehicle’ stickers on the front doors does prove that such a thing is currently being worked on by the Bavarian automaker.
Discussing further regarding these spy shots too, it would appear that this upcoming all-electric 3-Series can be differentiated from its fuel-burning facelifted counterparts by its its EV-esque closed-off front grille up front. The slightly altered LED headlight clusters and redesigned front bumpers spotted however should be the same as what will be appearing on the rest of the updated 3-er range.
Continuing on the topic of bumpers, the rear ones have also been altered slightly to eliminate the need for an exhaust exit. Rather interestingly too, the spy shots seem to suggest that the all-electric 3-Series will only be available exclusively in long wheelbase trim.
The reason why the long wheelbase is intriguing is because this all-electric 3-Series could well be manufactured in China, and to primarily target the Chinese market. A statement backed up by the fact that this particular red EV 3-er was actually spotted on the roads locally over there.
In fact, there is actually a high likelihood that this EV 3-er will feature the same powertrain setup as the Chinese-made iX3. This therefore will most probably mean the existence of a sole 210 kW electric motor mounted on its rear axle, that is fed by an 80 kWh battery pack which supports 150 kW DC fast charging and is good for WLTP-claimed 460 km on a single charge.
Having said that however, there could also be a slim chance for BMW to shoehorn in the more potent twin-motor powertrain from its new i4 into the all-electric 3-series. And speaking of the i4, it remains to be seen to as to what the German automaker will be calling this new EV 3-er, seeing that the i3 moniker has already been used for something entirely different after all.
With a global release date roughly estimated to possibly be sometime early next year, further details about this all-electric 3-Series should be officially known in the coming months. There is also a somewhat high possibility of it landing locally in Malaysia too, though it would be interesting to see if it will be locally-assembled like its other semi-electrified counterparts sold over here.
