- The first pre-production BMW i3 electric sedans have rolled off the assembly line in Munich.
- The photos of the i3 (still wearing camouflage) give us our best look yet at the finished production-ready model.
- BMW plans to ramp up production of the i3 in the second half of 2026.
The camouflaged sedan in these photos is a very important new BMW sedan. It’s the first Neue Klasse i3 built at the BMW Group Plant Munich, which will be ramping up production of the new electric sedan in the second half of 2026. Once production of the i3 is in full swing, the EV will kick the combustion-powered 3 Series out of its historic home, where it’s been in production uninterrupted for half a century.
These photos also give us our best look yet at the i3 sedan with its final production body, door handles, mirrors and lights. While many of the details are still obscured by the camouflage, we can mentally peel some of it away and draw some conclusions.
The first thing I noticed is that the front section of the vehicle isn’t as long as on the combustion 3 Series. The front axle is closer to the A-pillar than in the ICE model, giving the i3 the proportions of a front-wheel drive sedan. This is because BMW could enlarge the greenhouse for extra space inside the cabin in the same footprint, thus allowing for more room in the cabin and extra space between the two rows of seats.
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Source: BMW
It also doesn’t look unnaturally high for a sedan, unlike the larger 5 Series (which also underpins the fully electric i5). It will likely be taller than the next-generation combustion 3 Series (which is also getting a Neue Klasse visual makeover), but BMW has done a good job masking the extra overall height caused by having a battery in the floor of the vehicle.
The wheels on the car are likely one of the designs available for the finished production version when it goes on sale later this year. The fact that they look so sporty also suggests that this camouflaged pre-production i3 is likely wearing the M Sport pack, which gives it different front and rear bumpers, deeper side skirts and a lower ride height.
BMW doesn’t show this i3 from the rear, but we can see the trunk area is quite high and squared off. Previous prototype sightings tell us the rear light clusters will be high-set and similar in design to what the iX3 has, but they will stand out more with the i3’s less busy rear design. The interior should also be pretty similar to what we’ve seen in the iX3, with its unusually shaped center screen and wrap-around display in the driver’s line of sight.
Under the skin, the i3 is related to the iX3, sharing the same 800-volt platform. However, we don’t think the i3 will get the iX3’s large 108-kilowatt-hour battery pack—that would be unusually large for a car in this size class—but even with less capacity, it should still come close to matching (or possibly even exceeding) the SUV’s claimed 500-mile range.
Regarding the production of the i3 in Munich, BMW didn’t say much other than the fact that the first pre-production examples had already been built. The boss of the Munich factory, Peter Weber, said, “Production of pre-series vehicles is an important milestone for our plant.” Head of BMW Group Plant Munich. For the first time, we have built a BMW i3 entirely at our plant – using state-of-the-art manufacturing technology and digitally connected processes. With production now close to series maturity, our logistics and production processes are performing under real-world conditions across all technologies.”
The BMW i3 sedan is one of our most hotly anticipated new EVs to debut in 2026, since it promises to bring improvements in every area over its predecessors, and there will also be a dedicated M model with an advanced quad-motor setup and piped-in engine sounds.
