BMW’s Electric 3 Series Is About To Open For US Orders
Article Summary
- BMW USA has confirmed the i3 50 xDrive opens for order in Q4 2026, with several dealers already pointing to early October.
- US-spec production starts at Munich in November, and the iX3’s reservation-to-delivery gap suggests a similar four- to five-month runway for the i3.
- The car launches with 463 hp, up to 440 miles of EPA-estimated range, and a NACS port with a CCS adapter included; pricing has not been announced.
According to our sources at BMW of North Ameerica, the new BMW i3 50 xDrive will open for order in the first half of October 2026. Lots of BMW dealers are already running their own BMW i3 reservation pages, taking non-binding deposits ahead of the real order bank, the same soft-launch tactic dealers use before every new BMW model’s configurator goes live.
There’s a production reason an early-October window makes sense. US-spec i3 builds are scheduled to start at Munich in November, a month after European-spec cars have been rolling off the same line since August.
The iX3 is the closest comparison BMW has. Reservations for the electric SUV opened May 6, and the first US customers are looking to take delivery in late September or early October, a gap of roughly four to five months. Line up the i3 the same way and an October order opening puts deliveries somewhere in the first quarter of 2027.
Under the hood, the US i3 launches in a single configuration: 463 hp from the dual-motor setup, a 108.7 kWh battery, and an EPA-estimated range up to 440 miles. Charging tops out at 400 kW DC, and the car comes with a NACS port alongside a CCS adapter, so Supercharger access doesn’t require an aftermarket dongle. A more affordable i3 40 xDrive and the performance-oriented M60 xDrive both come later, with the M60 reportedly entering production around March 2027.
BMW hasn’t announced pricing. The iX3 50 xDrive starts around $60,000, and sedans have historically undercut their crossover siblings by a few thousand dollars, so a sub-$60,000 starting price for the i3 wouldn’t be a surprise. Nothing is official until BMW says so.
Facing Lots Of Competition
The i3 also isn’t arriving into an empty segment. Tesla’s Model 3 remains the default cross-shop, with the Premium RWD trim rated at 363 miles and starting around $42,500, well below where the i3 is expected to land, though the i3’s 463 hp dual-motor setup outguns even the Model 3 Performance’s output.
Mercedes just got there first with the CLA sedan riding on its own 800-volt architecture: the CLA 250+ with EQ Technology starts at $47,250 with an EPA-rated 374 miles, and the dual-motor CLA 350 4Matic runs $49,800 with 312 miles and 349 hp. Both numbers put pressure on BMW to justify whatever premium the i3 ends up carrying.
Lucid’s Air Pure sits further up the price ladder but still casts a shadow on efficiency, squeezing more range out of a similarly sized battery than anything from Stuttgart or Munich has managed so far. BMW’s answer, at least on paper, is horsepower and charging speed: nothing in this group tops the i3’s 463 hp or matches its 400 kW peak DC rate.
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