BMW Says More Station Wagons Are Coming

BMW’s latest round of wagons, the M5 Touring and M3 Touring, have made it very clear to BMW that people still love the station wagon’s combination of SUV practicality and car-like fuel economy. That’s a boon for future wagon production at the German automaker, and now there will be one like nothing else.

The company’s head of design has just let slip some very strong hints that there will be a wagon version of the upcoming i3 Neue Klasse electric model. The i3 Touring will come after the SUV and sedan variants of the new model.

Touring Is “Making A Comeback,” Says Design Chief

Speaking with Autocar, BMW Group design head Adrian van Hooydonk said that wagons are still a big part of the brand’s reputation. They also still make up an important part of the brand’s market share.

“I think the ‘touring’ is making a comeback,” he said. “Of course, we’ve propelled it with the M3 Touring and M5 Touring: they seem to be very popular, even in countries where tourings or estates are traditionally not very [popular]. So yes, there is new wind in that segment, and we’re very happy about that.”

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Van Hooydonk said that BMW would start with an SUV, the iX3 model that is set to be revealed later this year. “SUVs are half of our business,” he said, but expressed that BMW is very much still concerned about its other models.

“The other half are still sporty, elegant sedans or coupés, and obviously, we care about that as well. That’s what we’re rooted in, and we are often seen as the benchmark – and for sure we want it to stay that way,” he told the site.

i3 Name Moves From Oddball To Mainstream With Next-Gen

BMW’s i3 name was first used on an oddball hatchback that went out of production in 2022. The i3 had innovative uses of sustainable materials inside, long before any other mainstream car. It was also notable for its carbon fiber body, bicycle-like wheels and tires, and the motorcycle engine used as a range extender. By moving it to the Neue Klasse, the name will fit into the natural place of the 3 in the BMW lineup.

The German automaker hasn’t confirmed when the new 3 will launch, but product boss Bernd Körber told Autocar it should be in step with the iX3. “They come – relatively – so close that for us, [that] we are launching a pair,” he said. “We always look at [them as] a couple. We’re not launching the first before the other.”

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BMW wants to offer the same designs for both gas and electric models, a strategy that has been working well for it so far. Körber said that the vehicles need to be both similar and slightly different in naming, and so the electric models will get the leading i and gas models will not. But their series names will be the same for both.

“With the choice of drivetrain, you don’t make a decision on design, you don’t make a decision on digital or ADAS capabilities, but you choose a drivetrain, and basically, the cars look the same,” he said. “That’s the core philosophy. So why should we name an EV car differently? That would be against our philosophy of what it means to be technology-open.”

Source: Autocar