BMW plans to keep producing wagons for the foreseeable future.

The German marque’s design boss Adrian van Hooydonk said as much in an interview with Autocar. He even suggested that a long-roofed version of the redesigned 3 Series could launch within the next few couple of years.

Talk of the new wagon came up while van Hooydonk was discussing the upcoming, eighth-generation 3 Series sedan. That car is expected to be the second of BMW’s Neue Klasse generation of battery-powered vehicles. The architecture that underpins the new car was designed for electric powertrains but also works with internal combustion engines. This will allow BMW to sell both battery- and gas-powered versions of the next-gen 3 Series.

“First, we will start with an SUV [the new-look X3 that is scheduled to debut later this year], then pretty soon after we will come with our new interpretation of a sporty sedan; we believe that segment is not dead,” the executive told the British publication.

The order makes sense because SUVs represent half the company’s business, while sedans remain integral to the brand’s identity. But van Hooydonk also hinted that a wagon version could follow soon after the 3 Series is unveiled early next year. The reason is simple: the success of the M3 Touring and M5 Touring—the latter of which is sold in the US—has convinced the automaker that the body style still has plenty of life in it.

“I think the ‘touring’ [estate] is making a comeback,” he told the magazine. “Of course, we’ve propelled it with the M3 Touring and M5 Touring: they seem to be very popular, even in countries where tourings or estates are traditionally not very [popular].”

In the same article, Autocar also reports that BMW’s head of production, Bernd Körber, has confirmed that the electric version of the new 3 Series will be called the i3. The name was previously used for a compact electric hatchback that was discontinued in 2022. The name will bring the battery-powered 3 Series in line with the company’s other EVs, the iX SUV and i4, i5, and i7 sedans. The ICE version, meanwhile, will continue to bear the traditional 3 Series name.