Confirmed: Next-Gen BMW M3 Will Have a Straight-Six

• BMW plans to offer the next-generation M3 with a gasoline engine. 
• BMW engineers are already working to make the straight-six engine compliant with upcoming emissions regulations. 
• BMW will continue to offer a gas M3 so long as there’s demand. 

Enthusiasts have feared that BMW’s push toward electrification would kill the combustion M3, but that’s not happening anytime soon. In an interview published Thursday, BMW M boss Frank van Meel told Bimmer Today the automaker plans to continue offering the twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six engine in future M3 models if the demand is there.

M’s head honcho told the publication BMW engineers are already working on certifying the powertrain for the approaching Euro 7 regulations. “We’ll let the six-cylinder combustion run for as long as possible,” he said in the video (translated). “If customer demand is what it is at the moment, and it doesn’t drop off, we won’t turn off the six-cylinder either.”

BMW is keeping the gas-powered M3 around for the foreseeable future, which means it’ll be on sale alongside the electric M3, as rumored. The EV will ride on the automaker’s Neue Klasse platform, have four electric motors (allegedly making as much as 1,341 horsepower), and should be quicker than its combustion counterpart. But pure performance numbers won’t kill the straight-six engine.

“If customers say, “Even though an M3 is significantly faster electrically than the combustion engine that is the benchmark today, I still want a combustion engine,” then we will not withhold this offer from them.” 

If BMW M fans want to keep the gasoline flowing, they will have to talk with their wallets.

The next-generation combustion M3 and its electric counterpart are still several years away from hitting showrooms. BMW has to launch its first Neue Klasse model, which will happen next year, before we begin to see the performance variants. Don’t expect any new M3, electric or gas, to arrive until 2027 or 2028.