The electric version of the next-generation BMW 3 Series will resurrect the i3 name and be offered in Touring estate form.

Due on sale next year as the second of BMW's Neue Klasse generation of EVs, the eighth 3 Series will be offered with ICE and EV power and completely restyled as it moves onto a completely new, EV-first architecture.

Its design and technology have been previewed with a succession of concept cars – Vision Dee, Neue Klasse and Vision Dynamic Experience – but these have all been saloons, raising questions about whether the Touring would return.

But now BMW Group design boss Adrian van Hooydonk has told Autocar that estates remain a highly important part of the brand's market share and reputation and strongly hinted that a Touring variant will follow soon after the saloon is revealed early next year.

"I think the 'touring' [estate] is making a comeback," he said. "Of course, we've propelled it with the M3 Touring and M5 Touring: they seem to be very popular, even in countries where tourings or estates are traditionally not very popular.

"So yes, there is new wind in that segment, and we're very happy about that. 

"First, we will start with an SUV,” he said, referring to the new iX3 that will be revealed in September, “then pretty soon after we will come with our new interpretation of a sporty sedan [saloon]; we believe that segment is not dead. 

"SUVs are half of our business. The other half are still sporty, elegant sedans or coupés, and obviously we care about that as well. That's what we're rooted in, and we are often seen as the benchmark - and for sure we want it to stay that way."

Van Hooydonk's revelation of plans for a new 3 Series Touring come as BMW's product boss Bernd Koerber officially confirms the company will continue to use 'i' badging for electric cars, in keeping with the current iX2, i4, i5 and i7. 

This means the 3 Series EV will revive the i3 name that has been dormant (except in China) since the seminal carbonfibre-bodied hatchback went out of production in 2022.

Koerber said it's important to have some differentiation in naming between ICE and EV cars, but BMW's 'technology-open' approach means they will look the same and should be numbered the same too, so the letter 'i' plays a subtle but important role.

"With the choice of drivetrain, you don't make a decision on design, you don't make a decision on digital or ADAS capabilities, but you choose a drivetrain, and basically the cars look the same," he said. "That's the core philosophy. So why should we name an EV car differently? That would be against our philosophy of what it means to be technology-open. 

"Why the 'i'? Because the i brand started out with more facets to it, but one element with the i3 and i8 was electrification. So for us it's a designator that we use to indicate within the common naming [strategy] that this is an electrified vehicle, with the 'i' in front of it. 

"So we kept the 'i', put it in front and moved it from a kind of sub-brand to a model brand, and that will be the logic that we will follow from now on."

Koerber said that means the upcoming electric 3 Series will be badged i3, as is the electric version of the current-generation 3 Series sold in China.

BMW has yet to confirm a launch date for the next 3 Series but has shown it as a prototype alongside the new iX3, which will be revealed at the Munich motor show in September; and Koerber said this is reflective of the plan to effectively launch the two models as a pair, almost simultaneously.

"They come – relatively – so close that for us [that] we are launching a pair," he said. "We always look at [them as] a couple. We're not launching the first before the other.

"We will start in our core segments with our most relevant cars, when it comes to global relevance and volume, so it's not really a question of whether we start with an SUV versus the sedan. There are no implications on whether we favour one or the other."