HAVING TURNED 50 last May, the BMW M division is still in celebration mode. This year, the Garching power brokers are going to spoil their fan base with the new M2, M3 CS, M4 CSL and M3 Touring to be followed by the XM flagship, i7 M60 and X1 M35i.
Ever since the first E30-based 3 Series Touring popped up in 1986, the brand community hoped for an M version of the five-door holdall. But although the go-faster branch had in fact built an M3 Touring prototype derived from the E46 platform which spawned the very first CSL, management took fright at their own courage and blackflagged the project at the eleventh hour. Disillusioned by the slow-selling M5 Touring (E34 of 1992-’95 and E61 of 2007-’10), the M3 Touring was laid to rest for good until the CEO Frank van Meel picked up the red thread his predecessor Markus Flasch had started to spin during his 2018-’21 tenure as head of the M Division.
First shown at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, production of the Touring began
