BMW’s popular 3-Series sedan isn’t due for a redesign until the 2012 model year, but it appears that the German automaker may be ahead of schedule with the car.  A car believed to be the next 3-Series has been caught by spy photographers.

Motor Trend reports, “What we can see” beneath significant amounts of camouflage “is a sedan with safe styling sure to please those who already like the current car.”  It carries the more upright two-kidney grille seen on the recent 5-Series GT and 7-Series redesigns, with short overhangs pushing the wheels to the far corners of the car for an aggressive stance.

Little is known about what might power the next 3-Series, but Left Lane News speculates that the car will carry “the latest in Efficient Dynamics technologies. Like the 1-Series, there will be an active hybrid model using a range-extended three-cylinder engine connected to an electric motor.”  Other features may be included to boost the car’s fuel economy, including “lightweight resistance tires, aerodynamically designed alloy wheels, improved aerodynamics, a solar roof panel for extra energy efficiency, brake energy regeneration, stop-start technology, and pre-heating for the engine, gearbox and differential.”

The photos may mean that BMW is speeding up development of the car.  The U.K.’s CAR magazine reports, “The new 3-series family – internally codenamed F30 – has been moved forward because of a slump in sales of the current model. CAR understands sales nosedived by 40% in the first six months of 2009, a cataclysmic drop which sparked change in Bavaria.”

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