Electric wagon confirmed: BMW says it will make an electric i3 wagon

BMW has long been a fan of the humble station wagon. The first was E30 3 Series Touring, which launched in 1987, and as it gets its brave new electric age underway with the Neue Klasse, it has confirmed the i3 will also be available in wagon form. This will be another of the 40 models BMW will launch by the end of 2027 as part of its Neue Klasse broadside.

At the launch of the i3 Sedan today in Munich, BMW teased us with the prospect of the i3 Touring. Only briefly glimpsed on screen, the more practical i3 was confirmed by CEO Oliver Zipse, though he stopped short of talking about anything more than its existence. "Business customers and families will be particularly delighted: the Touring has always been a favourite with them," he said at the event. 

That means we aren’t entirely sure what will power it - aside from electricity, considering it will be an i3 offshoot. 

Extrapolating on what the confirmed i3 50 xDrive offers in terms of power, we can expect all-wheel drive capability with two electric motors, and around 345kW of power plus 645Nm of torque. Driving range will be near the 900km figure of the i3 Sedan, thanks to a similarly sized 108kWh NMC battery. 

However, as the Neue Klasse platform can accommodate combustion and electrical powertrains, there’s a good chance the new Touring will simply form part of the next generation 3 Series, instead of being a specific i3 variant.

Wagons have generally been of less interest to the buying public (as have sedans, to be fair), giving way to the ever-rising popularity of SUVs. Even BMW knows it, having launched the iX3 SUV ahead of the i3 sedan, despite the 3 Series being so integral to the brand’s image. But there is still a market for the body shape, and it’s great to see BMW keeping the wagon alive into the next generation.

It’s not just the electric stuff getting wagon-ified either. BMW also recently revealed it is taking the current M3 Touring racing. Originally an April Fools joke, the M3 Touring 24H is a fully fledged racecar developed using the latest technology from the BMW M4 GT3 EVO. 

A 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged straight six making “up to” 434kW of power sits under the bonnet, a heavily tweaked chassis, and bespoke aerodynamics sum up the package. The M3 Touring 24H is built specifically for competition and will line up on the starting grid at the 2026 Nurburgring 24-hour race, hence the name . It might look a bit bizarre with a huge rear wing hanging over the hatchback boot, but we can’t wait to see it in action.