BMW's best-selling sedan is about to enter a new era, and someone in Munich got an early look at it. Photos of the eighth-generation 3 Series, internally codenamed G50, have surfaced showing the car completely free of camouflage — a rare slip this close to an official reveal expected at the end of September.

A Design Borrowed From the Electric i3

The new 3 Series leans heavily into BMW's Neue Klasse design language, and it shows: the car bears a strong resemblance to its electric sibling, the BMW i3. Flush door handles, slim L-shaped taillights, and a sharply creased rear bumper all carry over from the EV's styling, despite the two cars sitting on different platforms.

Based on details visible in the photos — aggressive bumper lines, a quad exhaust setup, sportier wheels, and a small trunk-lid spoiler — the car spotted in Munich is believed to be the range-topping M350 xDrive, effectively the successor to the outgoing M340i. The quad tailpipes are a useful giveaway: BMW has reportedly reserved visible exhaust tips for M Performance and full M models going forward, so a regular 330i-equivalent wouldn't carry them. The full M3 version isn't expected before 2028, and this prototype lacks the wider fender flares that model would have.

Around 443 HP From a Familiar Inline-Six

Under the hood, the M350 xDrive is expected to carry over BMW's 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six, tuned to roughly 443 horsepower. Adaptive dampers and a sport differential are also expected as part of the package, with the M Sport package reportedly standard on this trim, giving it more aggressive exterior details than the regular versions.

A Radically Different Cabin

The interior overhaul looks just as significant as the exterior redesign. The new 3 Series is said to share much of its cabin philosophy with the i3, meaning BMW's long-running iDrive rotary controller and most traditional physical buttons are being phased out in favor of new digital interfaces — a significant departure for a car whose interior has stayed relatively conservative across generations.

Production Is Leaving Munich

In a symbolic shift, BMW is moving production of the combustion-engined G50 away from its historic Munich plant — where the 3 Series has been built since 1975 — to the Dingolfing facility, which also produces the 5 Series and 7 Series. The redesigned model is expected to go on sale in Europe later in 2026, with a U.S. launch following in 2027.

Related reading:

• Motor1: This Is The New BMW 3 Series Before You're Supposed To See It
• BMWBLOG: 2027 BMW M350 Spy Shots — Quad Pipes Spotted In Munich
• Share your take on the redesign in the Cars forum category — does the Neue Klasse look work on a combustion sedan?