The “most powerful letter in the world” is 50 years old this year and BMW has been celebrating the M performance division’s anniversary throughout 2022. Special events have been held all over the world in recent months and the automaker’s Canadian branch couldn’t miss the opportunity to mark the milestone. At the Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex in Toronto, the new M2 took center stage.
A new video puts the spotlight on the G87, which was presented locally in the new Zandvoort Blue paint job available exclusively (at least for now) on the sports coupe. BMW decided to showcase the baby M car with the optional carbon fiber roof and the two-tone wheels (930 M). Naturally, the second-generation M2 had the classic Motorsport roundel the German automaker has been offering all year for M Sport and M cars.
Perhaps a bit surprisingly, BMW Canada brought a pre-production prototype fitted with the eight-speed automatic transmission even though other local unveilings of the M2 had the car equipped with a six-speed manual. As we’ve seen before on numerous occasions, the smallest M car was fitted with the carbon bucket seats that are going to cost you extra over the standard M Sport seats and will shave off 11 kilograms.
You can’t easily tell the high-performance coupe has grown in size by looking at the photos and videos but we’ll remind you the G87 is a substantial 104 mm longer and 33 mm wider than its predecessor. It’s also 7 mm lower to the ground while the front and rear track widths have increased by 38 mm and 4 mm, respectively, thus matching those of the M4.
The Canadian launch is slated to take place in early Q2 2023 and BMW is charging 76,500 CAD for the base model before options. M2 production will take place much closer than before as assembly has been moved to the San Luis Potosí plant in Mexico rather than remaining at home in Leipzig, Germany as was the case with the F87 generation.
Source: Daily Downshift / YouTube
