Buyers of BMW’s upcoming electric 3 Series sedan will get a car with a similar power output to the automaker’s sporty gasoline-powered M3.

And that’s on the non-M version of the electric car.

BMW shared a few details about the forthcoming i3 sedan, which will go into production in the second half of 2026. It should launched for the 2027 model year.

The car will get its full reveal on March 18. The i3 is the second model from BMW’s Neue Klasse of electric vehicles.

To start, the electric sedan will be available as the i3 50 xDrive – that’s the same powertrain designation as the launch version of the first Neue Klasse vehicle, the iX3 compact SUV.

In the i3 Sedan, the 50 xDrive powertrain utilizes BMW’s sixth-generation eDrive unit with 800-volt technology.

The car will produce 469 hp (345 kW) and 475 lb.-ft. (645 Nm) of torque.

Those are similar figures to the gasoline-powered M3, which in standard guise has 473 hp and 406 lb.-ft of torque.

That puts the electric i3 50 xDrive short just 4 hp and up 69 lb.-ft. over the standard M3.

There’s also the M3 Competition, which ups power to 523 hp and 479 lb.-ft. of torque. Even so, the electric i3 promises to give buyers a lot of oomph right out the gate.

And yes, BMW is planning M versions of the Neue Klasse. One can only imagine what BMW is planning for those M-badged EVs. But, those aren’t expected to arrive until 2027.

Electric i3 testing in Sweden

BMW said the i3 is undergoing winter testing Arjeplog, Sweden as it approaches series-production readiness.

“The BMW i3 applies the sporty sedan’s typical characteristics to a completely new vehicle concept defined by the BMW 3 Series DNA; at the same time, pushing the conventional boundaries of electric mobility into new territory, thanks to the potential of our Neue Klasse,” said Mike Reichelt, head of Neue Klasse BMW, in a news release.

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