As can be seen from these photos, BMW is apparently preparing an early facelift for the 3-series to meet the new Audi A4 and Mercedes C-Class which are coming on the market in late 2007. On these pictures of an undisguised test car, one can see the new bumper and also the different shape of the BMW typical ”kidneys” in the front grille.
In the beginning the engineers from Bavaria had been driving up and down a mountain road with a disguise over the test car’s front end, but decided to take it off for a short trip afterwards – which is when they got caught by the photographer. Looking closely, the disguise left some white glue marks on the the prototype where it was taped on.
Source: Hans G. Lehmann