It's easy to forget BMW is developing another gasoline-powered M3 when so much of the conversation revolves around the electric model. But make no mistake: another six-cylinder sports sedan is on the way. Fresh footage captured at the Nürburgring by Carspotter Jeroen gives us our best look yet at the successor to the current-generation M3. We'll likely see plenty more of these camouflaged prototypes, since the car isn't expected to break cover until 2028 at the earliest.
From the few details BMW has shared, the new M3 definitely won't be a plug-in hybrid like its bigger brother, the M5. It will, however, use a “new type of six-cylinder engine,” according to Mike Reichelt, Head of Neue Klasse. Some have speculated about a radical switch to a V6, something Munich has never put into a production car, even though prototypes were secretly built. However, M CEO Frank van Meel has made it crystal clear that the inline-six is here to stay.
View Price on AmazonBMW will likely further refine the twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter engine beyond the new pre-chamber ignition technology it recently introduced in Europe. Rumor has it the next M3 could adopt a mild-hybrid setup to meet increasingly stringent emissions regulations. While it’s impossible to tell from the spy video, the "G84" may be offered exclusively with all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission.
The test car’s flared fenders are a dead giveaway that this is a full-fat M3 rather than the M Performance model BMW accidentally listed on its website for the 2027 model year as the M350 before quickly taking it down. Predictably, it doesn’t look as wild as the M Concept Neue Klasse since it won’t inherit the extreme aerodynamic package.
Although the M Concept Neue Klasse technically previewed next year’s electric M3, BMW has already said future models will look nearly identical regardless of what powers them. Consequently, the new i3 sedan offers an accurate preview of the gasoline-powered 3 Series debuting in the coming months. By extension, the electric and combustion-powered M3s should look strikingly similar inside and out.
You can tell this disguised prototype is still a work in progress by its provisional headlights and taillights. Whether the M Concept Neue Klasse’s chunky ducktail spoiler is hiding beneath the camouflage remains unclear, but some of the concept’s design cues will certainly carry over to the production M3. In fact, BMW has already confirmed that the double-yellow headlights and the stacked, cube-shaped lights on the bumpers will appear on all future M models.
Source: motor1.com
