A new BMW iX3 long-wheelbase model on display at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2026. Credit: CnEVPost
- BMW’s three China-built models on the combustion-electric platform — the i3, i5 and iX1 — are set to exit simultaneously.
- The move clears the way for BMW’s Neue Klasse pure-electric platform, the core of the carmaker’s electrification shift.
BMW is said to halt production of all its China-built electric vehicles (EVs) from July, temporarily emptying the EV line-up of its joint venture BMW Brilliance.
The affected models are the i3, i5 and iX1. All three are built on BMW’s Cluster Architecture (CLAR) combustion-electric platform, and they will reach the end of their life cycle together in July, according to a Wednesday report by BMW Club, a WeChat account that has long tracked BMW.
The move clears the way for BMW’s Neue Klasse pure-electric platform, the core of the carmaker’s electrification shift, the report noted.
The locally made i3 rolled off the line at the Lydia plant in Shenyang in May 2022 as BMW’s first China-built electric sedan, with an initial guide price of 349,900 yuan ($51,790).
The i3 has the highest sales among the three, drawing on the large user base built up by the combustion-powered BMW 3 Series. Its retail price has now fallen to around 180,000 yuan, the report noted.
The iX1, meanwhile, is the only electric SUV BMW still sells in China. The first-generation iX3 was discontinued in March 2025, and the iX will stop being imported in 2026, according to the report.
With the July halt, BMW’s electric SUV line-up will see a temporary gap.
The i5 is the most recent of the three, having launched in early 2024. The model also has a high-performance variant, the i5 M60, sold as an import.
In addition, the flagship i7 electric sedan was officially discontinued this month. Until new models arrive, BMW’s China EV offering is left with only a handful of performance variants, the i4 M60 and the i5 M60, the report said.
Notably, BMW has not pressed pause on its electrification push in China, but is instead switching fully from the CLAR platform to the Neue Klasse pure-electric platform.
The first model on the new platform is the long-wheelbase iX3, tailored for the China market with a wheelbase of 3,005 millimeters.
The new iX3 features an 800V high-voltage architecture and a CLTC range topping 900 kilometers. It is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of this year.
It will be followed by the long-wheelbase i3, which made its global debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April this year and is slated for production in early 2027.
The Neue Klasse models address the older line-up’s shortcomings in intelligence features. The new iX3 will also be the first to debut the driver-assistance system jointly developed by BMW and Chinese autonomous driving startup Momenta.
BMW and CATL will launch pilot projects for trusted data exchange and carbon footprint accounting under the Battery Passport framework.
($1 = 6.7565 yuan)
