Article Summary
- The G50 is the first 3 Series with no manual transmission offered anywhere in the lineup, ending an era that started with the E21.
- BMW is selling two 3 Series simultaneously — the combustion G50 on CLAR II and the electric i3 on Neue Klasse — built in different factories on different platforms.
- The M340i becomes the M350 with more power, as BMW retires the "i" suffix from all combustion models.
The G50 BMW 3 Series is the biggest change to hit the nameplate since the E90 replaced the E46. Neue Klasse design from front to rear, a new M Performance badge replacing the M340i, and no manual transmission anywhere in the lineup. The G50 enters production at Dingolfing in November 2026, and it arrives as a genuinely different car rather than an evolved one. Here is everything we know so far.
Two 3 Series Walk Into A Showroom
Before anything else, the G50 story requires understanding that BMW is launching two 3 Series in 2027, and they are built on completely different platforms. The combustion-powered G50 uses the CLAR II architecture — an evolution of the same platform that underpins the G20 and the current G45 X3. The fully electric version, codenamed NA0, rides on BMW’s new Neue Klasse NCAR platform and will wear the i3 badge.
This is not a small distinction. BMW Group design boss Adrian van Hooydonk told us earlier this year that customers will be “hard-pressed to tell which one is the electric one and which one is the combustion engine.” That may be the goal, but these two cars share almost nothing below the sheetmetal.
The NA0’s EV platform allows for shorter overhangs, a longer wheelbase, and a fundamentally different interior architecture — no transmission tunnel, more freedom with packaging. The G50, on CLAR, might still has a tunnel. It still has a B48 or B58 under a long hood. It will likely look very close to a Neue Klasse car because BMW’s design team is working very hard to make it look like one.
The G50 is the conservative choice, the car for markets that BMW has said, repeatedly, aren’t ready for a full electric transition. It will be the volume product — the one dealers actually stock, the one most people point at when they say “3 Series.” Whether its design can hold its own against an electric sibling with more architectural freedom is a question BMW will have to answer once both cars are in showrooms simultaneously.
What The Spy Shots Actually Tell Us
Based on camouflaged prototypes tested at the Nurburgring and on public roads throughout 2024 and 2025, the G50’s exterior follows the Neue Klasse playbook closely enough to cause double-takes next to the NA0. Gone is the oversized grille treatment that defined the G20 M Sport and reached its peak — or its nadir, depending on your vintage — on the G82 M4. The G50’s front end uses a horizontal glass panel integrating the headlights directly into the kidney surround. The kidneys are still there, still functional air intakes for the combustion engine, but they’re slimmer and more geometric than anything on the current car.
The lower bumper on M Performance variants shows a wide trapezoidal opening, closer in proportion to the G90 M5’s front fascia than to the M340i it replaces. Spy shots of the M350 at the Nurburgring revealed red-painted M Sport brakes behind what appear to be 20-inch wheels — the G20 M340i topped out at 19 inches. Quad exhaust tips are confirmed on M Performance models, a feature previously restricted to full M cars. That’s a meaningful visual cue for the M350, which needs to look the part without having the M badge on the grille to lean on.
Along the flanks, flush pop-out door handles replace the conventional units, mirroring what BMW already deployed on the i3 and iX3. The side profile is cleaner, with fewer character lines — closer in spirit to the E30’s simplicity than to the layered surfacing of the G20. The Hofmeister kink stays, extended past the C-pillar with an embossed model designation. At the rear, slim horizontal taillights with dual vertical LED signatures sit above an aggressive diffuser on M Performance models. The overall silhouette reads like a Neue Klasse car. Which is, of course, the point.
A Successor To The Popular M340i
The M340i is rumored to be replaced by the M350, and the name change isn’t cosmetic. BMW is retiring the “i” suffix from combustion models across the lineup — you’ve already seen it disappear on the G45 X3, which shed the badge when the new generation arrived. The logic is straightforward: “i” now belongs exclusively to electric vehicles. The G50’s EV sibling is the i3. The performance combustion variant is simply the M350.
In M350 specification, the B58 is expected to produce more power than the unit in the M340i. Mild-hybrid assistance via a 48-volt system is likely, handling Euro 7 compliance and sharpening throttle response off boost. The eight-speed ZF automatic carries over from the G20.
BMW is also rumored to upgrade the B48 to the B48TÜ3 for the 2027 3 Series, improving efficiency, response, and hybrid performance. According to insiders, BMW is preparing a rollout of the B48TÜ3, the newest evolution of its 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder, which will serve as the backbone of the 320, 330, and 330e.
Rear-Wheel Drive Options?
Whether rear-wheel drive returns as an option is still unresolved; the G20 M340i offered it in the U.S., but the G50 M350 may launch xDrive-only, at least initially. BMW hasn’t confirmed either way, which means the answer is probably xDrive-only and someone at BMW is waiting for the right moment to say so.
What’s more likely is that this might be the first 3 Series to offer no manual transmission anywhere in the lineup. The G50 is the formal end of an era that started with the E21, which is roughly the same as saying it started with the modern idea of a sporty compact sedan.
The Interior Tells A Similar Story
Interior spy shots of the G50 are limited, but the platform explains the constraints. The NA0 electric i3 has no transmission tunnel, giving BMW’s designers the same architectural freedom they had with the iX — a wide, flat floor and packaging decisions made without a driveshaft cutting through the cabin. The G50, being on CLAR, it’s likely to have all of those things.
BMW is expected to bring Neue Klasse-inspired surfacing to the G50’s interior regardless — a larger central touchscreen beyond the current G20 LCI’s 14.9-inch display, the Panoramic Display spanning the full windshield width, and fewer physical controls. The iDrive X interface, which debuted on the Neue Klasse i3 and appeared on the G70 7 Series before that, is the likely software base.
Production Timeline
The G50 should enter production at Dingolfing in November 2026 and have a typical BMW run of 7 years. The i3 Touring and G51 Tourings will likely follow in 2027-2028. The NA0 electric i3 starts production in Munich this summer.
