End of an Era: All-New All-Electric BMW iM3 Revealed

BMW has finally said the quiet part out loud: From 2027, every new M car will be electric. Not hybrid, not “electrified”, not clinging to a petrol engine for emotional support. Fully electric. It’s not clear whether BMW wants to frame this as evolution or revolution, but for car enthusiasts, it reads like a clear full stop at the end of the petrol-powered M story.

Officially, BMW’s M department says this is about taking its “Born on the racetrack” mantra into a new era, using the company’s upcoming Neue Klasse platform. Less officially, it’s the moment where the howl of a straight-six or the thump of a V8 becomes a legacy feature rather than a living one. The next M3 you lust after won’t idle, won’t warm up, and won’t smell faintly of unburnt fuel. It’ll hum.

The headline tech is as dramatic as you’d expect, with each wheel getting its own electric motor, all overseen by what BMW calls the “Heart of Joy” – a central brain that controls torque, traction, braking and power delivery. BMW claims this four-motor setup delivers both rear-wheel-drive purity and all-wheel-drive security, with the front axle able to disconnect entirely when efficiency or excitement requires.

On paper, it’s wildly capable. There’s 800-volt charging, a battery north of 100 kWh, massive recuperation potential and enough computing power to run a small town. BMW is adamant these cars will be track-ready, and not just fast in a straight line. The battery is said to be structural, with a cooling system that is motorsport-derived. Quite how that is going to perform and feel on the road remains to be seen.

But let’s not kid ourselves: this isn’t just about chasing performance. This feels more like BMW M choosing to jump while it still can, rather than waiting to be shoved. Emissions rules, fleet averages and an increasingly hostile regulatory landscape have made high-revving petrol M cars a diminishing window of opportunity. BMW hasn’t been forced into this move yet, but the writing is clearly on the wall, and this is the brand getting ahead of it, on its own terms rather than someone else’s.

To soften the blow, BMW promises simulated gearshifts, artificial soundscapes and configurable driving modes to inject “emotion” back into the experience. Whether that convinces long-time M fans raised on screaming M3s and V10 M5s is another question entirely.

There’s also talk of sustainability, with natural fibre materials replacing some carbon fibre, claiming to cut CO2 without sacrificing strength. So yes, new BMW M cars will still be fast. Probably faster than ever. But will they make young petrol-heads’ jaws drop when one speeds by like the M cars of the past will?

Probably not.