2026 BMW iX3 40 Priced for Australia: $89,900 Rear-Drive Neue Klasse EV, 635km WLTP, Q4 Deliveries

Image credit: BMW Australia

Here is the version of BMW's Neue Klasse SUV most salary-packaging Australians were actually waiting for. The rear-wheel drive iX3 40 opens at $89,900 before on-roads, which puts it neatly beneath the federal Luxury Car Tax cap for fuel-efficient vehicles. That single detail matters more than the badge, because it keeps the car eligible for the FBT exemption on a novated lease and effectively drops the running-cost line by five figures over a three or four year hold. First Australian customer cars land in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The iX3 50 xDrive that landed earlier in the year is the tech showcase, with dual motors and 345kW. The 40 is the sensible one, and BMW has been careful to give it the same battery pack, the same 800V electrical guts and the same standard kit list. What it swaps out is the front motor. Everything else stays.

Pricing (before on-road costs)

The $20,000 gap between the two grades is the interesting number. In a lot of luxury EV ranges the entry car is a stripped-out fleet special. This one is not. Standard kit lines up with the 50 xDrive, so what you actually pay for with the more expensive car is the second motor and the extra 110kW.

Powertrain and Charging

*805km is a European WLTP figure for the 50 xDrive. Australian delivery specification tracks the same pack.

Two things stand out here. The first is that the 40 is the longer-range car on paper. Dropping the front motor cuts the drag and the parasitic load on the pack, and the same 82.6kWh usable capacity now stretches to 635km. The second is that even at 300kW DC, this car will fill a five to ten minute window at a Chargefox or Evie 350kW site much faster than a 200kW Polestar or a 195kW Mazda 6e. On a real Sydney to Canberra run that is one coffee, not two.

Dimensions, Weight and Practicality

For scale, that is about the same footprint as a current X3 but with 520 litres of boot and a real frunk you can throw a charge cable into. The 40/20/40 split on the rear bench opens the load bay to 1,750 litres, which is bigger than a Polestar 3 (484 to 1,411 litres) and puts the iX3 40 firmly in family SUV territory rather than fashion crossover.

Equipment

Standard kit on the iX3 40 matches the 50 xDrive. That includes the BMW Panoramic iDrive with Operating System X (a wide, glass-fronted display band that runs across the width of the dash), a panoramic glass roof with climate comfort glazing, a Harman Kardon audio system, 20-inch alloys, DAB+ digital radio, wireless phone charging, sun protection glazing, comfort access with a digital key, an automatic tailgate, and heated multi-function front seats trimmed in BMW's Veganza upholstery with electric adjustment and memory. Steering-wheel heating and Driving Assistant Plus with Parking Assistant Plus are also in the box. Optional 21-inch and 22-inch wheel packages are available, and from July production BMW Individual paints such as Frozen Ocean Wave Blue and Twilight Purple open up in the configurator.

The important read here is that BMW is not using equipment to force upsell. The cheaper 40 is not a poverty pack. If you were quietly worried you would have to give up the sunroof or the Harman Kardon to hit under $90,000, you do not.

Safety

ANCAP has not yet rated the Neue Klasse iX3. BMW says it will submit the car in due course. Standard active safety includes autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise with steering assist as part of Driving Assistant Plus, lane departure warning and lane-keep intervention, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, exit warning, a surround-view camera, a tyre pressure monitor, and eight airbags including a centre airbag between the front occupants. Parking Assistant Plus adds park distance control, an automated parking assistant and a reversing assistant. We will update this piece once ANCAP publishes a rating.

How It Compares

The interesting fight for the iX3 40 is not with the German pack. It is with the Polestar 3 and the Genesis Electrified GV70 for the salary-packaging shortlist, and with the Tesla Model Y L for buyers who want a big long-range EV without spending premium money. Here is where the numbers sit on the CarSorted directory today.

On the sticker alone the iX3 40 is $26,800 under the Polestar 3, $32,600 under the Audi Q6 e-tron and roughly $44,500 under the Porsche Macan 4. Range is only really beaten by the Macan Turbo variants, which live in a different price zip code again. If you were already looking at a Tesla Model Y L at $74,900 and stretching, the extra $15,000 for the iX3 40 buys you a badge, a nicer interior, a proper 800V charging curve and a novated-lease-friendly tax outcome.

Warranty and Servicing

BMW Australia backs the iX3 40 with a 5-year unlimited-kilometre vehicle warranty and an 8-year, 160,000km high-voltage battery warranty. Service intervals are condition-based, and BMW offers a pre-paid Service Inclusive plan at delivery. There is a 12-month roadside assistance plan included, extendable at BMW dealers. Nothing exotic here, but the 8-year battery cover matches what Polestar, Audi and Mercedes-Benz all offer.

The CarSorted Angle: Why $89,900 Is the Number That Actually Matters

The reason we care about this launch is not the range figure and it is not the badge. It is the LCT threshold. The federal FBT exemption on eligible electric vehicles applies when the drive-away price sits at or under the fuel-efficient LCT cap. The iX3 50 xDrive at $109,900 blows straight past it and pulls FBT liability back into the salary-packaging maths. The iX3 40 at $89,900 does not.

For a novated lease buyer on a $180,000 income, that gap is worth roughly $9,000 to $12,000 a year in FBT that you do not pay. Over a 3-year novated lease, that is more than $30,000. Which means the iX3 40 is not really $20,000 cheaper than the iX3 50 xDrive on the driveway. It is closer to $50,000 cheaper over the life of a fleet lease. That is a bigger gap than most launch coverage has bothered to spell out.

On the CarSorted directory, the FBT-exempt luxury EV shortlist under this cap has been thin for over a year. The Genesis GV60 RWD was the closest thing, along with the Audi Q6 e-tron Performance grade, the Volvo EX60 P6 at $86,990, and the outgoing BMW iX1. The iX3 40 slots in at the top of that band with the longest claimed range of the lot. If you are packaging an EV and you actually want the mid-size SUV body, this is now the default premium choice under the cap. Line it up against the shortlist on the CarSorted compare tool, or filter the full directory by BEV, LCT-eligible and mid-size SUV to see the group side by side.

What This Means for Buyers

If you were already about to pull the trigger on an Polestar 3 Rear Motor at $116,700, the iX3 40 makes that decision harder. You are looking at $26,800 saved on the sticker, 31km more claimed range, a five-year warranty against Polestar's five, and a battery pack that will pull DC power at 300kW peak. You give up a bit of interior wow-factor and the Scandinavian design language that Polestar buyers actually shop for. Both are valid answers, but the money is on BMW.

If you were shortlisting a Genesis GV70 in its 2.5T petrol guise for around $80,300, understand what the switch does to your annual bill. The iX3 40 at $89,900 is $9,600 more up front, but the FBT exemption on a novated lease closes that gap fast, and the electricity bill for 20,000km a year sits closer to $1,200 than the $3,800 you would spend in petrol. That is a $2,600 annual delta on top of the tax outcome. Over four years you have paid for the price bump twice.

If you were staring at a Tesla Model Y L at $74,900, the harder question is whether the extra $15,000 for the iX3 40 buys you enough car to justify it. Range is close (681km for the Model Y L vs 635km on the iX3 40), badge cachet is where BMW pulls ahead, and the Neue Klasse interior with the full-width display panel is genuinely a step change on premium presentation. If your driveway is a salary-packaged company car with a fleet manager on the other end, the iX3 40 wins the paperwork test as well. If it is a cash buy, the Model Y L is still the sharper deal on pure engineering per dollar.

The one buyer group this car is not for is the family that actually needs all-wheel drive. The iX3 40 is rear-drive only. For snow-country weekends and towing over 1,500kg, wait for the 50 xDrive or step laterally to a Polestar 3 Long Range Dual Motor at $131,100.

Full technical brochure will land on bmw.com.au in the run-up to Q4 deliveries. Order books are open at BMW dealers now. See the wider Neue Klasse family and the FBT-friendly EV shortlist on the CarSorted directory, or build a head-to-head against the Polestar 3, Audi Q6 e-tron and Genesis GV60 in the compare tool.