BMW killed the diesel 3-Series after every generation since the E30 offered one

The next BMW 3 Series will be the first since the original E21 of 1975 to go without a diesel. A BMW spokesperson told BMWBLOG that the new 3 Series Sedan “will be offered exclusively with gas engines, either on their own or as part of a plug-in hybrid setup,” which retires the 320d and the six-cylinder M340d that carried diesel through the current G20 generation.

Every generation from the E30 onward has sold with at least one diesel in some markets, usually in Europe, a run of six generations that ends with the arrival of the G50. The generation list below is what that claim rests on.

Six generations, six diesel lineups

BMW Group’s own history of the 3 Series, published for the model’s 50th anniversary, names the diesels in sequence. The E30 gained the 324d in 1985, quoted at 6.9 litres per 100 kilometres, and the turbocharged 324td in 1987, rated 85 kilowatts. The E36 added the 325td at 85 kilowatts, the 325tds at 105 kilowatts and later the economical 318td at 66 kilowatts and 5.9 litres per 100 kilometres. The E46 offered the 320d, which BMW describes as the first diesel in the line with direct injection, and the 330d at 135 kilowatts with common-rail technology. The E90 carried a 320d making 120 kilowatts and 340 newton-metres and a 335d making 210 kilowatts and 580 newton-metres.

For the F30 generation, built from 2012 to 2019, the F30 model entry lists the 316d, 318d, 320d and 325d four-cylinder diesels together with the 330d and 335d sixes, with the 320d sold throughout and an EfficientDynamics version of it in the range. The entry shows the 316d and 318d arriving in 2012, the 325d and 335d in 2013, and the 320d, 330d and 335d all running to 2019. The G20 followed in 2019. BMW’s May 2024 press release for the updated G20 describes four diesel engines in the range, from 110 kilowatts to the 250-kilowatt, 340-horsepower M340d, and states that around 40 percent of Touring models were specified with diesel.

The generations that offered a diesel are therefore the E30, E36, E46, E90, F30 and G20, and the G50 now arriving breaks the sequence. The E21 never had one, according to BMWBLOG, which makes the new car the first 3 Series without a diesel since that first generation, so the 1975 original and the 2027 car are the only two without one.

The engines being retired are the last of that lineage. Carscoops describes the G20’s diesels as a 2.0-litre turbo-diesel four-cylinder, the B47 in 188-horsepower form that BMW sells as the 320d, and the 3.0-litre twin-turbo M340d with 340 horsepower, both offered in select markets and mostly in Europe. Their removal leaves the new 3 Series line-up to gasoline mild-hybrid four- and six-cylinder engines, the all-electric i3 and the plug-in hybrid still to come.

The spokesperson statement and the Euro 7 inference

BMWBLOG reports that the spokesperson’s statement came by email and gave no name or title, so BMW as a company, not an individual executive, carries the claim that the diesel is gone. The wording covers the new 3 Series Sedan only. It does not address a Touring body style or any diesel sold outside Europe, and it does not say that BMW is leaving diesel across its range, since other BMW models are not part of the statement.

Carscoops put the end of the 320d and M340d down to Euro 7 emissions regulations. BMW did not cite them, according to BMWBLOG, which describes Euro 7 as making combustion engines increasingly expensive to develop and says the new standard takes effect on November 29, 2026, for newly launched vehicles and on November 29, 2027, for all. That reading is the outlets’ inference. BMWBLOG also points to the market: diesel accounted for 6.5 percent of EU registrations in the first half of 2026 against 10.3 percent for plug-in hybrids.

The plug-in hybrid that replaces it

The diesel’s replacement is a plug-in hybrid due in 2027, after the first G50 deliveries. According to BMWBLOG, it is expected to pair an updated 2.0-litre B48 turbocharged four-cylinder with an electric motor and battery, and Carscoops says that setup could offer more than 62 miles of electric range. BMW has not published figures for either.

The six-cylinder side is gasoline as well. The M350 xDrive takes the straight-six slot that the M340d held, and BMWBLOG notes that it is the only 3 Series with an inline-six. The 340-horsepower diesel six therefore has no diesel successor, and its place is split between the gasoline six and the plug-in.

The unresolved point is volume. BMW’s 2024 release put diesel at roughly 40 percent of Touring orders, and no source has yet said how many of those buyers will move to the 2027 plug-in rather than to another maker’s diesel wagon.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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