With our attention split between the M3 Touring and the M4 CSL, the M3 hasn’t been getting a lot of attention lately. However, the M division will also spruce up the high-performance sedan in 2023 by giving it another Clubsport (CS) edition. In the meantime, a prototype has been caught testing near the Nürburgring while hiding some new yet already familiar design tweaks.

Despite the makeup, it’s easy to see the M3 CS will largely inherit the meaner front-end design of the upcoming M4 CSL. It appears to have the same revised grille design and a busy-looking bumper with more air intakes than we can count. BMW went as far as to camouflage the typical M mirrors, thus suggesting some changes are in order.

If you’ve seen spy shots of the M4 CSL, you have likely noticed the rear windows were disguised to hide the absence of back seats. To our surprise, the M3 also has that swirly black and white camo on the glass of the rear doors even though we can see the headrests belonging to the back seats. It wouldn’t make much sense to remove the bench of a sedan, especially since the diet won’t be as drastic as the M4 CSL’s.

Moving at the back, BMW decided to mask the beefier trunk lid spoiler reserved for the CS. You can already have something much flashier on the regular M3 by opting for the M Performance rear wing. The blacked-out quad exhausts are barely visible within the aggressive rear diffuser. Although not noticeable in these spy shots, the Clubsport will get the iDrive 8 infotainment coming to all 3 Series models with the impending LCI.

Positioned above the M3 Competition, the new CS is said to dial the inline-six 3.0-liter engine to roughly 540 horsepower. The bump in output will be quite substantial without stepping on the M4 CSL’s toes as the Coupe Sport Lightweight should have around 550 hp. For even more power, the Hommage is believed to have the S58 tweaked to unlock a massive 600 hp.

The M3 CS will be launched next year as a limited-run special edition together with an equivalent M4 CS.

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