BMW M3 Touring on the cards for South Africa, but don’t expect a four-cylinder M

BMW’s M division has ruled-out the possibility of any forthcoming new model being powered by a four-cylinder engine with or without electrical assistance.

An announcement coming just over a week after a similar confirmation by Audi Sport, M boss Frank van Meel, responding to a question at the BMW M Fest launch at Kyalami on Thursday, remarked, “I hope that was just a rhetorical question because it is clear we are not going to do any three-cylinder engines.

“We not even going to four-cylinder engines in high performance cars. I know there are other companies doing it, but we are not going to, a smiling Van Meel said in likely reference to Mercedes-AMG’s rollout of electrified four-cylinder engines in the new C43 and C63 S.

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At the same, Van Meel, flanked by BMW M’s Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, Timo Resch, said it is “pushing hard” to retain an M Performance model “in the same category as the 1 Series”.

“It is definitely an important segment, even with the existing M Performance models in the 1 Series that we have a true fan-base for these cars and we don’t want to lose out on not delivering cars at entry-level,” Resch said.

“It brings people to the M brand and usually we then see people climbing up within the M portfolio, so we need this entry point”.

Both Resch and Van Meel provided a resounding no though when asked about the possibility of a fully fledged M model at 1 Series level, saying it has no interest in producing a high performance derivative using the FAAR front-wheel-drive platform that also underpins the 2 Series Gran Coupe and 2 Series Active Tourer.

M3 Touring

More clear, however, was Van Meel on the likelihood of the M3 Touring becoming available in South Africa as the Munich’s long awaited rival for the Audi RS4 Avant.

Unveiled in June as the first estate M3 in the moniker’s history, the Touring uses the M3 Competition as a base, meaning outputs of 375kW/650Nm from the S58 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six engine delivered to all four wheels via the eight-speed Steptronic gearbox.

“This is a unique car but there is also a unique following for cars like the Touring. We are currently investigating [the possibility]. It hasn’t been signed and sealed yet, but we are working on something,” BMW South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa CEO, Peter van Binsbergen, said.

While initially wholly ruled-out for South Africa, if approved, speculation is that the M3 Touring will become available either towards the latter stage of 2023 or 2024 with pricing to be announced only then.