Photo: S.Baldauf/SB-Medien
BMW's first-ever M3 Touring is getting closer and closer to its official reveal. A camouflaged prototype of the upcoming M3 Touring has been spotted yet again at the Nürburgring Nordschleife. This time it was accompanied by a film crew, our spy photographers have reported.
It does not take much thought to connect the dots between one and the other and figure out that this camouflaged prototype is being filmed by a team hired by BMW M for an upcoming promotional video. While the photo gallery does not feature the film crew, the prototype is unchanged from the previous versions that were spotted while testing.
Moreover, we were told that this is the same car that BMW M took to the 'Ring last year, so its job is not to test out a new suspension calibration or something of that magnitude, but rather a final check-up before giving the project the green light.
Since the development team was going to hit the most demanding track in the world, it would have been a shame for BMW M not to immortalize everything with a dedicated film crew.
The first-ever BMW M3 Touring is expected to borrow the inline-six-cylinder engine from the M3 Competition, which provides 503 horsepower and 479 lb.-ft (650 Nm) of torque. An M-tuned rear-biased xDrive all-wheel-drive system is also expected to be present under the body, but we will have to wait for its official release to be sure.
We expect to see the first-ever M3 Touring revealed by next spring. Various private builds have shown that there is a market for Touring versions of the M3, and BMW has done this before with the M5. However, the Touring version of the M5 was an on-and-off affair, so the future of the M3 Touring depends on sales figures.
BMW has no plan to launch the M3 Touring in North America, despite a reported interest for the variant in the U.S., where someone even made an online petition to ask the Germans to bring the car across the Atlantic.
The said petition gathered 5,500 signatures, but BMW would need a serious justification for the business case of the M3 Touring in the U.S. to receive all internal approvals that are required for its deployment.
Moreover, we were told that this is the same car that BMW M took to the 'Ring last year, so its job is not to test out a new suspension calibration or something of that magnitude, but rather a final check-up before giving the project the green light.
Since the development team was going to hit the most demanding track in the world, it would have been a shame for BMW M not to immortalize everything with a dedicated film crew.
The first-ever BMW M3 Touring is expected to borrow the inline-six-cylinder engine from the M3 Competition, which provides 503 horsepower and 479 lb.-ft (650 Nm) of torque. An M-tuned rear-biased xDrive all-wheel-drive system is also expected to be present under the body, but we will have to wait for its official release to be sure.
We expect to see the first-ever M3 Touring revealed by next spring. Various private builds have shown that there is a market for Touring versions of the M3, and BMW has done this before with the M5. However, the Touring version of the M5 was an on-and-off affair, so the future of the M3 Touring depends on sales figures.
BMW has no plan to launch the M3 Touring in North America, despite a reported interest for the variant in the U.S., where someone even made an online petition to ask the Germans to bring the car across the Atlantic.
The said petition gathered 5,500 signatures, but BMW would need a serious justification for the business case of the M3 Touring in the U.S. to receive all internal approvals that are required for its deployment.
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