Watch The Electric BMW M3 Concept Attack A Hill Climb
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BMW’s first electric M3 is already showing it means business, taking its quad-motor setup from a car show’s floor to the twists and turns of an Italian hill climb.
Article Summary
- BMW’s electric M3 tackled the Tutto Bene Hill Climb in Italy to prove it’s more than just a static concept.
- Codenamed ZA0, the production model arrives next year with a quad-motor setup making an alleged 800+ hp.
- The electric M3 will be followed in 2028 by a six-cylinder gas model, and both are likely to spawn wagon versions.
BMW’s electric M3 concept is getting plenty of practice before it morphs into a production car next year. After making its dynamic debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the M Concept Neue Klasse has now taken on the Tutto Bene Hill Climb in Italy. And yes, the prototype looks every bit as serious attacking the mountain as it does sitting on a show stand.
The event took place on the Strada Borromea near Gignese, above Lake Maggiore. The route stretches for roughly 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) and climbs almost 800 meters (2,625 feet) toward the summit of Monte Mottarone. It isn’t a traditional hill climb where everyone obsessively chases the stopwatch, though. Tutto Bene is deliberately more about style, fun, and good vibes.
That makes the M Concept Neue Klasse a rather appropriate participant. Aside from the electric concept, the M3 Touring 24H served as M’s official entrant in the hill climb. BMW didn’t enter the electric concept as a race car, but it still sent the prototype up the mountain for some proper dynamic running.
The Electric M3 Preview
And it looks properly aggressive doing it. The M Concept Neue Klasse is effectively a preview of the first electric M3, internally known as the ZA0. BMW has already confirmed that the production car is coming in 2027, and company officials have told us it will remain remarkably faithful to the concept’s design. That means the aggressive proportions, flared wheel arches, square lights, natural-fiber body parts, and other motorsport-inspired details aren’t merely there to grab attention at auto shows.
As every BMW aficionado knows by now, M’s engineers have developed a quad-motor setup for the electric M3, with one motor driving each wheel. At the heart of the zero-emission sports sedan is a dedicated battery pack with more than 100 kWh of usable energy.
BMW hasn’t revealed final output figures for the production car yet, but estimates point to somewhere in the 800-hp-plus range. That’s plenty of firepower for a car that will also have to convince traditional M3 buyers that going electric doesn’t mean giving up the driving experience. One trick up its sleeve will be simulated gear changes, which are definitely coming to the production model.
EV And ICE, Sedan And Touring
Seeing the electric M3 concept attack a series of tight bends rather than sit motionless under studio lights is another reminder that BMW isn’t treating its first electric M3 like a glorified straight-line missile.
There’s also something fitting about an electric M3 heading up an Italian mountain while the combustion-powered predecessor’s racing DNA is represented by the M3 Touring 24H. BMW M is effectively showing both sides of its future at the same event. And yes, ICE still has a future, with both the sedan (G84) and wagon (G88) featuring an inline-six coming later this decade.
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