New BMW 3 Series on sale February

The compact 3 Series has been totally updated in every area, from its body and technology to the engines, and arrives in Australia early next year to coincide with a simultaneous world on-sale date of February 11.

The price is still secret, but the new Three is likely to cost around four per cent more than the current model with compensation from extra standard equipment at all levels.

The car is the sixth generation of the 3 Series, which BMW says has provided the foundation for all of its growth and model expansion since the original model in 1975 and thanks to more than 12 million sales.

The latest look is evolutionary, not revolutionary - unlike the days when Chris Bangle was in charge of design and trying to snap the links to BMW's conservative past - and appears more like a mini 5 Series than any previous Three.

The car is codenamed F30 and there will eventually be six individual body styles - coupe, Touring wagon, GT, convertible and GranCoupe - although only the four-door sedan is unveiled in Munich today.

One of the biggest changes for the Three is that some of the cars, most likely the GranCoupe and GT, will pick up a new 4 Series nametag, although sales and marketing chief Ian Robertson refuses to speculate on anything beyond the 3 Series sedan.

"There are many years to go yet," he tells Carsguide. But every BMW executive at the 3 Series preview is sprouting the same line, emphasising the importance of the car that is the cornerstone of the German brand. "The 3 Series is at the heart of the brand.

We want to build and sell more cars than we did in the previous generation," he says. The technical changes with the new Three start with a body that has a slippery drag co-efficient of just 0.26 and continue with an eight-speed automatic and a display screen that pops up out of the dashboard like a flatscreen television.

"The 3 Series has always been a very sporty car," says development chief Klaus Draeger, highlighting the 320d that leads the efficiency push with claimed fuel economy of 4.1 litres/100km.

All of the four-door 3 Series models will have turbocharged engines, five petrol and six diesel, with six-speed manual or eight-speed automatic gearboxes. The choices in Australia have not been finalised.

The car also comes with three individual model lines - Modern, Sport and Luxury - instead of the usual confusing plethora of BMW options as the brand continues the simplification of choices for buyers.