BMW applies to trademark 'iM3' in Europe twice, could be the electric M3 name

CarBuzz divers looking for pearls in trademark office databases have found another one, or two, depending on how you see it: BMW appealed to the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and to Germany's Deutsches Patent und Markenamt (DPMA) office to reserve the term 'iM3.' Everyone's best guess is that this will be the name of the electric M3 that further breaks open the Neue Klasse era that begins with the next-generation X3 SUV and i3 sedan due in 2025.

Based on a report from September, the new trademark applications fall in line with a raft of other requests covering all manner of BMW products. Citing public paperwork and anonymous company insiders, British magazine Car wrote BMW's plan to continue selling combustion-, electricity- and possibly hydrogen-powered variants of the same model requires a way to tell the powertrains apart. Gasoline-powered models will get a naming structure that consists of "X3" followed by two numbers, electric models will follow the same system but receive the "i" prefix. Assuming this is what happens, there'd be an X3 and an iX3, an M3 and an iM3.

To those headed for the exit at the talk of an electric M3, M boss Frank van Meel says, "I respect that," and wishes you well. M development chief Frank Weber supported the stance in telling Autocar about M customers, "Some come to me and say ‘No, the M guys don’t want this.’ I say no, be careful, because we do a lot of customer studies here. M customers want, simply, the best and highest performance you can get." However, the gas-powered M3 is expected to remain on sale until 2030 or so.