2026 BMW i3 L in China – LWB with manual door handles, over 1,000 km CLTC, coming to Malaysia?

The facelifted G70 BMW 7 Series may have been Munich’s big world premiere at the recent Auto China show in Beijing, but an arguably even more important new model sat right next to it. Because the long-wheelbase i3 L you see here – resplendent in Isle of Man Green, the G80 M3 and G82 M4‘s hero colour, no less – is the Neue Klasse all-electric 3 Series that is almost certainly coming to our shores.

This has less to do with the extended wheelbase – BMW has not provided an exact figure for the stretch, but it should be the same 108 mm as the iX3 L, given that the standard versions of both have identical wheelbase lengths. That would take the i3 L’s figure to 3,005 mm, in case you were wondering.

Instead, it has everything to do with Malaysia’s preferential import and excise duty rates for Chinese CBU imports (the i3 L will be built at the Brilliance plant in Shenyang, after all), granting it lower prices than if the short-wheelbase i3 were to be imported directly from Germany. That same reasoning is why it’s the iX3 L that will be launched here, not the regular iX3.

Incidentally, unlike the rest of the world, China is the only place where the i3 has a direct predecessor, one that’s not a carbon fibre-bodied city car. Astute readers will remember that an electric 3 Series was built off of the current G20 model, producing 285 PS (210 kW) and delivering a claimed CLTC range of 520 km.

The new i3 L is decidedly different. It derives BMW’s latest Gen6 EV powertrain technology from the standard i3, which uses dual motors churning out 469 PS (345 kW) and 645 Nm in launch-spec 50L xDrive trim. It also has a much further CLTC range of over 1,000 km – near as dammit double the old car.

While not specifically confirmed, this figure was likely achieved using the same 108.7 kWh (nett, 116 kWh gross) NMC battery – using more energy-dense cylindrical cells versus the Gen5 prismatic units – as the i3, as BMW doesn’t tend to use the longer wheelbase to fit a larger pack.

The generous CLTC number translates to a WLTP estimate closer to 820 km, which is quite a bit shorter than the over 900 km claimed for the SWB i3. That’s fair enough considering the presumably heavier body – the same is true for the iX1 L vis à vis the normal iX1. The i3 L also uses the same 800-volt electrical architecture and DC fast charges at the same 400 kW as the i3, topping up from 10% to 80% in as little as 21 minutes

Aside from the longer rear doors, the i3 L looks very similar to the regular i3, sporting the same shark-nose front end with full-width gloss black “kidney grilles”, diagonal quad LED daytime running lights, muscly fenders, upright glass house and blade-like L-shaped tail lights. The intricate 21-inch two-tone alloy wheels are also the same ones shown at the i3’s Munich premiere, here shod with Hankook Ion Evo tyres.

There are a couple of differences, however. The first is the black trim on the trailing edge of the rear side windows now houses an illuminated M logo, hinting that the M Sport package will come standard in China. More importantly, however, you now get conventional pull-up door handles to conform with China’s ban on pop-out releases, as fitted to the standard i3.

BMW i3

While BMW has yet to show the interior of the i3 L, it should be mostly identical to the i3, sporting the newfangled Panoramic iDrive interface. This consists of a 17.9-inch parallelogram touchscreen and a Panoramic Vision projection display that sits on the bottom edge of the windscreen, spanning from A-pillar to A-pillar. A novel steering wheel design with the spokes on the top and bottom should also be fitted.

In China, the i3 L’s onboard tech has been configured specifically for the market, with the Intelligent Personal Assistant voice control being built on Alibaba’s large language model and utilising DeepSeek generative AI. There’s also navigation from Amap and highly-automated city and highway driving from Momenta. None of this is expected to be offered outside the Middle Kingdom, unfortunately.

Expect the i3 L to arrive in Malaysia sometime next year, with the launch of the iX3 L taking precedence before the sedan. Are you excited for this electric long-wheelbase 3 Series? Let us know in the comments.

GALLERY: 2026 BMW i3 at Munich world premiere
GALLERY: 2026 BMW i3 official photos

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