BMW M is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and the M3 Touring will be one of the many exciting products to debut over the course of the next 12 months. Better late than never, the Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate competitor has returned in a new teaser video published on social media. We get to see the high-performance wagon dancing in the snow while playing its raspy soundtrack.
Receiving instructions from the M-branded helicopter above, the M3 Touring’s driver has fun in the snow to create a “2022” and bring in the new year in spectacular fashion. BMW still isn’t willing to remove some of the camouflage, although we don’t need a crystal ball to see into the future of the speedy wagon since it’ll have a predictable (yet exciting) design. Likely based on the facelifted 3 Series coming this year, the long-roof M3 is believed to come only with all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission. A forbidden fruit in the United States, the first-ever fully fledged M version of the 3er estate wasn’t originally on the agenda, but former M CEO Markus Flasch ultimately convinced the higher-ups to green-light the project.
Corroborated with the fact the sedan and wagon now have identical rear axles for the first time, his efforts will come to fruition in the coming months when the wraps will come off. Since we mentioned it will be based on the 3 Series LCI, that means the M3 Touring will feature the iDrive 8 setup with the two side-by-side screens.
While the M3 Sedan is rumored to get a hotter CS derivative joined by an M4 CS and CSL, the more practical M car is expected to be offered exclusively in the 503-horsepower Competition form. Due to its slightly higher curb weight commanded by the body style, logic tells us the wagon will be a tad slower to 62 mph (100 km/h) compared to the 3.5 seconds needed by the xDrive-equipped M3 Competition Sedan. The latter is 0.4s quicker in the sprint than the equivalent rear-wheel-drive model.
Aside from the M3 Touring, also due this year from BMW M will be the production version of the XM to serve as the performance division’s first plug-in hybrid. The aforementioned M4 CSL is also coming, as is the M2 Coupe. [Source: BMW M / Instagram]
