Nobody promised a thousand kilometers without charging — and yet BMW pulled it off. The new iX3 arrived at the Chengdu Auto Show in its most practical form for the Chinese market: the long-wheelbase 50L. Calling this a world premiere would be a stretch — the model first broke cover back in spring in Beijing. But on August 21, BMW opened orders, and its biggest selling point was range: a certified 919 km on the CLTC cycle.
China's iX3 differs noticeably from the global car. The wheelbase grew by 108 mm specifically to free up second-row space. Inside, the familiar instrument cluster gives way to BMW Panoramic iDrive: information runs along a long strip at the base of the windshield, while the main controls sit on a large central screen. For the Chinese version, BMW also built in local services, including Gaode navigation, Alibaba and DeepSeek technology, Huawei's HiCar, and a driver-assistance system co-developed with Momenta.
The iX3 50L xDrive produces 345 kW, or roughly 469 hp, and 645 Nm of torque. Usable battery capacity stands at 108.7 kWh. The electrical system runs on 800 volts, with peak fast-charging power reaching 400 kW: according to BMW, ten minutes at the right charger adds about 400 km of CLTC-rated range.
Then BMW went well beyond the spec sheet. A test iX3 50L drove from the factory in Shenyang to the research center in Beijing — 1,030.2 km without a single recharge — and finished with 5% battery left. More than a thousand kilometers on one charge. But this isn't a new official range figure: the automaker is upfront that the route and driving style were planned in advance, and the result depends on weather, speed, load, and how hard the climate control was working.
The distinction matters. For comparison shopping, buyers should stick to the 919 km CLTC figure, not treat a thousand kilometers as a guaranteed outcome of every trip.
In China, the new iX3 will be one of the first production models on BMW's Neue Klasse platform, and the long-wheelbase version is built locally in Shenyang. The automaker expects the model to reach the market in the fourth quarter of 2026.
