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The BMW iX3 has been handed the Premium Electric Car of the Year title at the 2026 Auto Express New Car Awards, and it signals the opening chapter of the brand’s ambitious Neue Klasse era. This is no lightly converted combustion car with batteries bolted underneath. The latest iX3 was drawn up from a blank sheet, and that fresh thinking shows in every measured detail.
Beneath the bodywork sits a bespoke electric platform paired with the sixth generation of BMW’s eDrive hardware. Denser cylindrical cells work alongside sharper, more efficient motors to unlock a figure that once seemed fanciful for a family-sized SUV: up to 500 miles between charges. That range alone reshapes what buyers can expect from a premium electric BMW.
It is also the first BMW to run an 800-volt electrical system, and the payoff is immediate. The iX3 can draw up to 400kW on a rapid charger, which is more muscle than almost any public unit in the UK can currently supply. Top up while you grab a coffee, and the battery refills far quicker than the class norm.
Then comes the Heart of Joy, a compact control unit that knits together steering, braking, accelerating and energy recovery into one fluid whole. It never feels like a game console on wheels. The iX3 still rides, turns and reacts the way a proper BMW should. Retro-futuristic styling nods to the marque’s heritage, while inside the new Panoramic iDrive casts key readouts along the base of the windscreen, right in the driver’s eyeline.
Judges placed the iX3 ahead of the accomplished Mercedes CLA and the polished Volvo EX60, which is telling the company to step out. For the sweet spot in the line-up, the dual-motor 50 xDrive is the pick, adding all-wheel drive, a healthy 463bhp and that headline 500-mile figure, though the entry 40 and its 395-mile range will suit plenty of drivers too.
