{"id":37098,"date":"2026-06-15T23:51:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:51:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/37098\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:51:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:51:20","slug":"bmw-confirms-next-m3-wont-be-a-hybrid-and-yeah-that-makes-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/37098\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW Confirms Next M3 ‘Won’t Be a Hybrid,’ And Yeah, That Makes Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Suddenly, after seeing the BMW<\/a> Neue Klasse M Concept<\/a>, I\u2019m pretty stoked for the new M3. There\u2019s going to be a quad-motor electric version<\/a>, which is neat, but there\u2019s also a gas-powered one in the works. And whereas the M5 is a heavy-hitting (and just plain heavy) plug-in hybrid<\/a>, BMW M CEO Frank Van Meel told Piston Heads<\/a> that the M3 won\u2019t be. He explained that his crew is instead focusing on the \u201cperfect combustion principle.\u201d <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the full quote:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur motorsport-derived-tech M Ignite Euro 7 S58 comes out this year [with the current-gen M3 and M4 first], so I can say that it will survive to go into our future M cars. It won\u2019t be hybrid, as we\u2019re sticking with the perfect combustion principle. Here [with the Neue Klasse M3] we will go to the extremes, not the in-between.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a whole lot of alphanumeric mumbo jumbo, so allow me to translate. \u201cM Ignite\u201d is BMW\u2019s patented pre-chamber ignition system, designed to reduce fuel consumption at high revs. It\u2019s meant to help the manufacturer\u2019s twin-turbo, 3.0-liter inline-six\u2014codenamed S58\u2014meet Euro 7 emissions standards. BMW went through a lot of work to keep this gas-burner around, essentially designing a secondary ignition system so that it has two spark plugs per cylinder, along with higher compression and new variable turbine geometry turbos.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s specifically because the new S58 has been so thoroughly reworked that BMW believes it to be a fine solution for the next-gen M3. While some people consider hybrids to be the best of both worlds, others lament them as total compromises. You could make an argument for either being the case, I presume, but BMW isn\u2019t about to make someone who wants electric or gas settle for a combination of the two.<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/p>\n

\"BMW<\/p>\n

\"BMW BMW
\nBMW<\/p>\n

How much power the next-gen gas M3 will make is unclear. For what it\u2019s worth, BMW hasn\u2019t mentioned any additional output for the M Ignite-equipped S58, saying only that it lowers fuel consumption \u201cwithout any loss of power.\u201d That could mean 473 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque, like the current base M3 makes, or up to 523 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque, numbers currently touted by the M3 Competition xDrive.<\/p>\n

And as for the battery-powered version, well, Van Meel says it\u2019ll be a hoot. \u201cWith the electric M3, we move to the next level of vehicle dynamics,\u201d he explained to Piston Heads. \u201cThe technology provided to us by Neue Klasse means we can have the range, power, and torque split to create something quite extreme. We actually started development with the vehicle dynamics as our main target, so the EV won\u2019t just be the quicker car in a straight line; it\u2019ll be faster around a track too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoppers have a choice to make, then: A pure, gas-only driver\u2019s car or a mind-melting EV that was developed without compromise. Either way, with looks like that, I\u2019m not sure you can pick the wrong one.<\/p>\n

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com<\/p>\n

From running point on new car launch coverage to editing long-form features and reviews, Caleb does some of everything at The Drive. And he really, really loves trucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest car news and reviews, no BS Our free daily newsletter sends the stories that really matter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20955],"tags":[6213,23850],"class_list":["post-37098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bmw","tag-bmw","tag-m3"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}