With anticipation building ahead of next week’s launch of the M3 Touring at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, BMW, after a series of speculative reports pertaining to the new M2, have officially released a number of details and teaser images of what will be the final internal combustion powered only M-car.
Clad in comparatively thin layers of special 50th anniversary M disguise, the M2 will ride on the CLAR platform its 2 Series Coupe sibling also uses, but with a number of changes, namely the inclusion of the M adaptive chassis, BMW claims “allows the driver to experience that pure racetrack feeling in any conditions”.
Shown testing at the Salzburgring in Austria, the M2 will be lighter than the 2 Series in that it will feature a carbon fibre roof as well as the optional M bucket seats, with other weight saving measures set to be implemented as well.
Judging by the images, the M2, which will carry the internal moniker G87, will differ comparatively little from the regular 2 Series M Sport aesthetically, though the full extent will only become apparent once the wrapping comes off in October.
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Confirmed to be the beneficiary of the same braking system as the M3 and M4, namely the compound setup with a six-piston, 380 mm disc arrangement at the front and a single-piston, 370 mm disc design at the rear, the M2 will join in its M siblings in coming as standard with the Curved Display, complete with M specific readouts.
Up front, the “sharing is caring” adage continues with motivation coming courtesy of the S58 3.0-litre turbocharged straight-six engine.
Despite BMW not detailing any figures, it did confirm a “similar performance level to the BMW M2 CS”, which made the same 331kW/550Nm as the previous generation M3 and M4 Competition.
Speculative reports have however alleged an output of between 331 kW to as much as 360 kW, channelled to the rear wheels only through a standard six-speed manual gearbox or the optional eight-speed Steptronic.
Compared to the CS, expect the new M2 to reach 100 km/h from standstill in around 3.5 seconds and top out at 280 km/h.
Following its debut in October, sales will commence in April next year, meaning the reveal of more details in the shape of teasers over the coming months and weeks.
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