As every gearhead and their pet knows, BMW’s M Division is celebrating its 50th birthday as we speak. And it’s not all about anniversary cakes and all sorts of events, as they have used the occasion to launch several special editions of some of their models, as well as limited-run cars.
The most coveted by far is the new M4 CSL, shown to the world last Friday on the shores of Lake Como, during the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este. Edition 50 versions of the M3 and M4 are on the list too, and ideally, an M4 Shooting Brake would also happen.
A forbidden fruit in the real world, where the Munich auto firm is mostly concentrating its efforts on launching more electric, and electrified products, often with a jacked-up twist, because crossovers are the new bomb in the industry, it has been rendered out. By using the M4 Competition Coupe as the foundation stone, sugardesign_1 on Instagram has rearranged its pixels using countless mouse clicks, turning it into a veritable Shooting Brake.
Up to the B pillars, it looks about the same as the real model, but the magic happens further back. Thus, the car has a longer roof, ending with a spoiler, bigger rear fenders bedecked by BMW’s classic motorsport logo, a direct tie to the M4 CSL, a sexy tailgate design, with the license plate holder in the middle, flanked by the typical taillights, and an aggressive bumper, complete with the diffuser that has cutouts for the four exhaust pipes.
Photo: Instagram | sugardesign_1
Contrasting the orange body are the glossy black front, side, and rear parts. The car rides on wheels that feature the same special logos on the center caps, has privacy windows at the sides and rear, special trim behind the front wheels, and the usual bucktooth grille. There is also a sunroof that can bathe the entire cockpit in more natural light at the push of a button. Also, the trunk area has increased thanks to the new approach, and can eat more grocery bags, and/or suitcases, or other cargo.
Since it builds on the M4 Competition Coupe, the Shooting Brake would obviously pack the same powertrain, namely a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six. In this configuration, it kicks out 503 brake horsepower and 479 pound-feet (650 Nm) of torque, directing everything to the rear wheels, or the rear-biased all-wheel drive system signed by BMW M, through a dual-clutch eight-speed automatic transmission. When had with AWD, the premium compact sports coupe needs 3.4 seconds to hit 60 mph (97 kph) from a standstill. Flat-out, it can do 155 mph (250 kph) or 180 mph (290 kph) should the owner tick the M Driver’s Pack on the options list.
Unfortunately, we will never see an M4 Shooting Brake in the real world, not from BMW anyway, as the company has totally different plans when it comes to their future lineup. You don’t need to be a fortune teller to see that they are heading towards the inevitable ban of internal combustion engines, and that they will launch even more crossovers.
Until that happens, though, we might see some truly hot models, such as the rumored M4 CSL Hommage, which is understood to be a more hardcore variant of the normal M4 CSL, with bespoke body panels, stiffer suspension, more power, and maybe additional upgrades. It might boast in the region of 600 hp from a tuned version of the 3.0-liter six-pot, and production may be capped at 50 examples in total, with each one starting at approximately €600,000 (equal to ~$640,000) in Europe. Still, don’t forget to take everything with the proverbial pinch of salt until official confirmation arrives.
After a series of unfortunate events put an end to Cristian's dream of entering a custom built & tuned old-school Dacia into a rally competition, he moved on to drive press cars and write for a living. He's worked for several automotive online journals and now he's back at autoevolution after his first tour in the mid-2000s. Full profile
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