Earlier this week, BMW provided a substantial preview of the fourth-generation X3. However, we’ll have to wait until sometime in June for the whole shebang. The “G45” will be officially revealed roughly two months from now, before going into production in August. A separate version of the luxury crossover is planned for China.
BMW has confirmed it will sell the 2025 X3 global model with gasoline, diesel, and plug-in hybrid powertrains. A new fully electric iX3 is coming next year but as a separate model on the Neue Klasse platform. The X3s with combustion engines are going to utilize a revised version of the tried-and-tested CLAR architecture.
The M Performance variant is likely to remain the top model since rumor has it that BMW won’t do another X3 M with an inline-six. That’s despite the fact a “G97” internal codename has been floating around the Internet. Instead, a fully-fledged M flavor of the next-gen iX3 is expected to indirectly replace it later this decade. Should you prefer a gasoline engine, the X3 M50 will sit at the top of the food chain, possibly with a bit more power from the “B58” engine.
If you’re after efficiency, the plug-in hybrid X3 is getting more electric range courtesy of an upgraded battery pack. Likely to carry the “xDrive30e” suffix, the electrified variant won’t be available at launch in the United States. However, that could change later on, depending on the popularity of PHEVs.
As usual, the diesel X3 is not coming to the US. An X3 20d xDrive is expected in Europe, the last bastion for oil-burners. However, diesels have also fallen out of favor on the Old Continent where they had only a 13.6% share of new car sales in 2023. For the first time, EVs outsold diesels in Europe.
Looking ahead, the X3 is believed to go through a Life Cycle Impulse with vehicles produced from November 2028.
