Automakers tend to wind down communications as the year draws to a close. Well, not BMW. Shortly after disclosing plans to move 3 Series production to Dingolfing, the company is now sharing an update about its electric sibling, the i3. From January, the electric sedan’s pre-production phase will move from the Research & Innovation Centre (FIZ) to the nearby Munich plant.
The historic site now has all the hardware in place to assemble prototypes of the “NA0.” However, series production won’t begin until next summer. BMW isn’t providing firm timing, only saying it will start building cars for customers in the second half of 2026. From what we’ve heard, the i3 sedan will begin rolling off the assembly line in July. If our sources are accurate, and they usually are, European deliveries should start sometime next fall.
To support the i3’s arrival, BMW had to remodel about a third of the Munich factory in just 18 months. That effort required dismantling some of the old halls to make room for new facilities. There’s a body shop, a logistics center, and the assembly line itself. As if that weren’t complicated enough, series production of existing models continued uninterrupted. BMW builds up to 1,000 units of the current 3 Series and 4 Series daily.
More than a century old, the Munich plant is now preparing to sunset production of cars with combustion engines. BMW will build only EVs there from the end of 2027, following its decision to relocate 3 Series production to Dingolfing. As a result, the “G50” will be the first 3 Series that BMW won’t assemble in Munich.
BMW isn’t saying which other electric cars will join the i3 sedan. However, one of them could be a wagon. We haven’t seen prototypes, but the i3 Touring (“NA1”) is rumored to enter production in July 2027. It would make sense to build the electric long-roof model alongside its sedan counterpart.
In an unexpected twist of fate, the i3 Touring might end up being the only 3 Series wagon. Company insiders claim there won’t be a combustion-engined 3 Series Touring anymore. However, nothing is official at this point, so take the gossip with the proverbial pinch of salt. We honestly can’t imagine BMW discontinuing the more practical 3er, and hopefully, the “G51” will come to fruition later this decade.
In the meantime, we’ve heard the combustion-engined sedan will enter production in November 2026, a few months after the i3. Both sedans are getting the M treatment as BMW aims to cater to both camps. However, we’ve previously reported on the likelihood that the inline-six gasoline model could drop both the manual gearbox and rear-wheel drive. Instead, the M3 “G84” is expected to come exclusively with an automatic transmission and xDrive. The electric M3 “ZA0” could launch with rear-wheel drive and add a front motor later in its life cycle for an all-paw setup.
