• Company confirms the first-time extension of the model
• Prototypes seen driving around in the vicinity of the development centre in Garching near Munich
• Racetrack tests on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring to follow.

Want an extra-large and highly variable luggage compartment in a high-performance sports car? What is presently still a rhetorical question will soon become a concrete offer.

A few weeks prior to the world premiere of the all-new BMW M3 Sedan, there are increasing signs of unparalleled model diversity in the range of premium mid-range BMW M automobiles.

Together with the all-new BMW M4 Coupe, the new BMW M3 Sedan will be celebrating its world premiere in September 2020. It is also no secret that the new edition of the BMW M4 Convertible is to follow next year.

However, attentive observers will soon be able to catch a glimpse of the prototype of a new high-performance automobile. In Garching near Munich, home of the BMW M GmbH, work is being carried out on a further dream-come-true: For the first time in the history of the BMW M GmbH, the model range will be complemented by a BMW M3 Touring.

M-specific performance combined with an increase in available space and the intelligent functionality of a Touring model – this was previously reserved exclusively for the BMW M5.

Both in its second generation in 1992 and in its fourth in 2007, the high-performance business sedan was accompanied by a Touring.

This is not the first time both the M community and developers at the BMW M GmbH have been fascinated by idea of transferring this vehicle concept to the BMW M3. Exactly 20 years ago, a similar prototype was launched based on the third generation of the BMW M3.

Back then, M engineers set out to prove that the high flexibility of a Touring platform could be seamlessly integrated with a high-performance sports car, along with the stringent manufacturing quality required for an M car. For the sixth generation of the BMW M3, it will not end with mere theoretical considerations and technical tests.

The six-cylinder M TwinPower turbo engine beneath the bonnet has been set. Five doors and a highly variable luggage compartment are precisely what fans of this model have been asking for. The new BMW M3 Touring fulfils the hopes of all those who wish to take the M-specific interplay of racing-oriented performance and everyday suitability to the extreme.

Never has a premium mid-range class estate car offered so much driving fun and precision. Never has there been more functional utility available in a thoroughbred sports car. Further speculation on engine and performance is quite welcome, but wide axles, conspicuously large front air intakes and four exhaust tailpipes at the rear will leave no doubt that this is an thoroughbred M machine.

The first BMW M3 Touring is still in the early stage of its approximately two-year series development process.

As in the case of other BMW M high-performance sports cars, the following also applies to the BMW M3 Touring: whenever a prototype has been given the go-ahead for test drives on public roads, it means that the decisive step towards series maturity has been taken.

Not only will it soon be regularly sighted, the intensive testing and tuning process for the BMW M3 Touring will also take it to the world’s toughest proving ground: the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring.

That’s because the first BMW M3 Touring is, after all, first and foremost a BMW M3.

- Ends -

The BMW Group

With its four brands BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce and BMW Motorrad, the BMW Group is the world’s leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles and also provides premium financial and mobility services. The BMW Group production network comprises 31 production and assembly facilities in 15 countries; the company has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2019, the BMW Group sold over 2.5 million passenger vehicles and more than 175,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax in the financial year 2019 was € 7.118 billion on revenues amounting to € 104.210 billion. As of 31 December 2019, the BMW Group had a workforce of 126,016 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been based on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy.

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Pead PR

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Email: bmw@peadpr.co.nz

Munich. The BMW M GmbH is currently preparing the generation change for the iconic sports cars. With driving dynamics tests performed under racetrack conditions, the series development process for the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé (fuel consumption combined: 10.9 – 10.5 l/100 km [25.9 – 26.9 mpg imp]; CO₂ emissions combined: 249 – 239 g/km, preliminary data) is entering its crucial phase. With a significant increase in performance vs. the predecessor models and an M-specific suspension setup, newly developed straight six-cylinder engines once again set benchmarks in the segment of high-performance sedans and coupés of the premium midrange class. Comprehensive innovations in the areas of drive, wheel suspension, springs, dampers and braking technology require thorough testing on public roads at the BMW Group testing centres in Miramas, Southern France, in the Swedish town of Arjeplog as well as on a number of different racetracks.

Traditionally, the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring sets the yardstick for the perfect interaction between drive and suspension technology in every situation. However, because the performance characteristics of a BMW M automobile have to convince not only there but also on the most varied racetrack profiles, the test engineers always expand the test programme to include further circuits such as the current test drives with camouflaged prototypes of the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé at the Sachsenring.

A few months before their world premiere mid-September 2020, the dynamic potential of the new BMW M3 Sedan and the new BMW M4 Coupé is already clearly perceptible. Inspiring agility, outstanding dynamics and precisely controllable handling even in extreme sporting situations characterise their driving behaviour. The balance between superior performance and unrestricted everyday suitability so typical of an M attains a new level. “With each BMW M automobile, we put motorsport technology on the road,” says Markus Flasch, chairman of the board of the BMW M GmbH. “The new BMW M3 Sedan and the new BMW M4 Coupé embody this principle in a particularly intensive way, because both models stand unmistakably in the tradition of the most successful touring car worldwide. And results of the test drives show us that the new model generation is significantly superior to that of its predecessors in terms of performance.”

Like all current high-performance-automobiles from the BMW M GmbH, the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé are offered in two performance levels: Besides a 353 kW/480 hp variant with a 6-speed manual shift, there is also the choice of a Competition model with 375 kW/510 hp and an 8-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic. “For customers who prefer a puristic performance experience and particularly intense interaction with their vehicle, the model variants with a manual transmission constitute an offer that is unique in this segment,” explains Dirk Häcker, head of Development M Automobiles and BMW Individual. “On the other hand, with the Competition versions of the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé, we are addressing maximum dynamics in regards power development and transfer – initially with classic rear-wheel drive and, at a later date, also in conjunction with the latest version of our four-wheel drive system M xDrive.”

Compared with the predecessor models, the straight six-cylinder engines featured by the new high-performance sports cars deliver a maximum output increase of 36 kW/49 hp and 44 kW/60 hp (Competition models) and a maximum torque of up to 650 Nm. Moreover, thanks to M TwinPower Turbo technology and high-revving concept, the power plant impresses with performance characteristics derived from motor racing. The power unit excels through extraordinarily spontaneous response in every speed range and is also deployed in the BMW M4 GT3, which will become the new top-of-the-rage model from the BMW M GmbH in the customer sport segment as from the 2022 season. 

With a meticulously operated testing programme, development and testing engineers at the BMW M GmbH are currently making sure that the M-specific suspension components are tuned to the engine’s performance characteristics to such an extent that they guarantee the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé places in the first row of the starting grid in their vehicle segment. The around 3,670-metre stretch at the tradition-steeped Sachsenring, which is known as the long-standing venue of the German Touring Car Masters (DTM) racing series, also offers the ideal prerequisites for this purpose. With its challenging profile comprising hairpin bends, long straights and the downhill passage before the Queckenberg bend, it is possible lap after lap to achieve targeted optimisation of the longitudinal and lateral driving dynamics of the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé.