BMW’s New i3 Sedan Targets Tesla Model 3 in a World of Electric SUVs

It’s been a bleak few months for so-called legacy automakers’ electric plans. General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Honda have all taken write-downs on their respective EV programs to prevent them from hobbling the profitable parts of their business. BMW, another longtime automaker still making gas and hybrid-powered vehicles, has been a consistent EV player for years and just released one of its most important new models. The BMW i3 was revealed in Germany on Wednesday, and the automaker emphasized the heritage of the “3” in the model’s name. That’s because the i3 runs alongside the BMW 3 Series, the sedan that many people associate with the brand, even if, underneath the skin, it will remain a very different vehicle from the gas-powered 330i for the foreseeable future. Keen BMW or EV fans will remember the automaker had another electric car called the i3 from 2014 to 2021, but that carbon fiber-aluminum hatchback has nothing to do with this new car. The 2027 i3 is the second BMW on what it calls the Neue Klasse platform, after the iX3 SUV that’s set for U.S. showrooms in the second half of this year. While BMW’s rivals keep rethinking their EV strategies as markets change, it has