After more than 35 years, the BMW 3-Series continues to be the sports sedan benchmark.

In celebration of the recent debut of the all-new 2013 3-Series last month, BMW has released this “family tree photo” of previous models dating all the way back to 1975. And since that time, the 3-Series has been known throughout the automotive industry and countless fans alike as the perfect sport sedan. There have been and still are many competitors, but none have been able to exceed the 3-Series in terms of overall practicality, performance, and luxury. Now that the sixth generation is about to hit the streets, it’s worth taking a moment to think just how much the 3-Series has affected the industry. Quite literally, each subsequent generation has been the segment benchmark and we have no doubt the new model will continue doing just that. After more than 35 years, the 3-Series rightly deserves every bit of praise.