BMW has offered a not-so sneaky peek at the rear end of the first production M3 Touring.
A video posted to the BMW YouTube channel looking at the first M3 Touring, a skunkworks special that never hit showrooms, also offered a first look at the rear end of the 2023 model that’s already been confirmed for Australia.
What’s new? Well, the Touring obviously borrows its wagon rear end with the wider BMW 3 Series Touring range, but it features a much more aggressive bumper and diffuser, along with the trademark M quad pipes.
The lip spoiler on the roof has been 3D printed, and there are roof rails rather than the classic BMW M carbon lid.
We’re expecting the Touring to be all-wheel drive and automatic only, rather than available in rear-wheel drive manual guise like the M3 sedan and M4 coupe.
The higher-spec M3 Competition and M4 Competition have 375kW and 650Nm from their turbocharged 3.0-litre inline-six.
The claimed 100km/h sprint time is just 3.5 seconds with xDrive all-wheel drive fitted. Expect a wagon to be a few tenths of a second slower.
Previous test mules have worn a livery suggesting BMW is gunning for the production wagon lap record around the Nurburgring Nordschleife. It’s currently held by the Mercedes-AMG E63 S, which lapped the Green Hell in 7:45.19.
BMW promises the M3 Touring will offer the same space and practicality you get from a standard 3 Series wagon.
BMW’s reluctance to develop a long-roof M3 has long proved puzzling, especially considering it’s applied the M name to tuned versions of the X3, X4, X5 and X6 SUVs.
Rival Audi has a rich heritage in high-performance wagons. Its very first RS-branded car was the RS2 Avant, which was succeeded by the first-generation RS4 that was also offered only as a wagon.
Likewise, Mercedes-Benz has always offered a wagon version of its hottest, AMG-fettled C-Class models.
BMW has considered an M3 Touring in the past, even going so far as to develop a feasibility prototype of the E46 M3 back in 2000. It’s always demurred, leaving tuning firms like Alpina to pick up the slack.
MORE: Everything BMW M3
