A new dimension of dynamics: BMW M GmbH begins test drives with the first BMW M3 Touring

• Company confirms the first-time extension of the model
• Prototypes seen driving around in the vicinity of the development centre in Garching near Munich
• Racetrack tests on the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring to follow.

Want an extra-large and highly variable luggage compartment in a high-performance sports car? What is presently still a rhetorical question will soon become a concrete offer.

A few weeks prior to the world premiere of the all-new BMW M3 Sedan, there are increasing signs of unparalleled model diversity in the range of premium mid-range BMW M automobiles.

Together with the all-new BMW M4 Coupe, the new BMW M3 Sedan will be celebrating its world premiere in September 2020. It is also no secret that the new edition of the BMW M4 Convertible is to follow next year.

However, attentive observers will soon be able to catch a glimpse of the prototype of a new high-performance automobile. In Garching near Munich, home of the BMW M GmbH, work is being carried out on a further dream-come-true: For the first time in the history of the BMW M GmbH, the model range will be complemented by a BMW M3 Touring.

M-specific performance combined with an increase in available space and the intelligent functionality of a Touring model – this was previously reserved exclusively for the BMW M5.

Both in its second generation in 1992 and in its fourth in 2007, the high-performance business sedan was accompanied by a Touring.

This is not the first time both the M community and developers at the BMW M GmbH have been fascinated by idea of transferring this vehicle concept to the BMW M3. Exactly 20 years ago, a similar prototype was launched based on the third generation of the BMW M3.

Back then, M engineers set out to prove that the high flexibility of a Touring platform could be seamlessly integrated with a high-performance sports car, along with the stringent manufacturing quality required for an M car. For the sixth generation of the BMW M3, it will not end with mere theoretical considerations and technical tests.

The six-cylinder M TwinPower turbo engine beneath the bonnet has been set. Five doors and a highly variable luggage compartment are precisely what fans of this model have been asking for. The new BMW M3 Touring fulfils the hopes of all those who wish to take the M-specific interplay of racing-oriented performance and everyday suitability to the extreme.

Never has a premium mid-range class estate car offered so much driving fun and precision. Never has there been more functional utility available in a thoroughbred sports car. Further speculation on engine and performance is quite welcome, but wide axles, conspicuously large front air intakes and four exhaust tailpipes at the rear will leave no doubt that this is an thoroughbred M machine.

The first BMW M3 Touring is still in the early stage of its approximately two-year series development process.

As in the case of other BMW M high-performance sports cars, the following also applies to the BMW M3 Touring: whenever a prototype has been given the go-ahead for test drives on public roads, it means that the decisive step towards series maturity has been taken.

Not only will it soon be regularly sighted, the intensive testing and tuning process for the BMW M3 Touring will also take it to the world’s toughest proving ground: the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring.

That’s because the first BMW M3 Touring is, after all, first and foremost a BMW M3.

- Ends -

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