BMW will soon launch the next-generation 3 Series. The automaker will offer the model as a fully electric vehicle for the first time, selling it alongside a stylistically similar gas version. BMW has already confirmed it’ll reveal the sedan shortly after the iX3 electric SUV debuts in September, and it sounds like the company has plans to launch the 3 Series wagon after that.
Adrian van Hooydonk, BMW Group’s design boss, told Autocar that he believes wagons are “making a comeback,” pointing to the popularity of the M3 Touring and M5 Touring. He said that the wagons are even popular in countries where they typically aren’t, and that the brand was “very happy” about the “new wind in that segment.”
We’ve only seen the next-generation 3 Series as a sedan, and the automaker has yet to confirm outright a wagon variant exists. There have only been hints, and most of those have surrounded the next-gen M3 Touring, which has the highest chance of any 3 Series wagon to come to the US. But there are caveats.
BMW’s vice president of product management, Andreas Meyer, said last year that the success of the M5 Touring in the United States would determine if we get the next-generation M3 Touring. And BMW has been shocked by the demand for the M5 wagon, so there’s at least some hope.
It’s doubtful BMW will abandon the 3 Series Touring with the launch of the next-generation model. There are rumors the company is already developing the car, but what’s unclear is how it fits into the brand’s shift to electrification. Autocar suggests BMW will resurrect the i3 nameplate, previously used on the company’s small electric hatch up until 2022.
According to van Hooydonk, only about half of the brand’s sales are SUVs, meaning wagons, sedans, and coupes are still important to customers. The bigger question is whether BMW offers the wagon in the US, and that remains a mystery.
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Source: Autocar