Saturday, 4th April 2020 |
3:58 AM BST
It’s the four-door coupé version of BMW’s M6, which will debut at the NAIAS Detroit Motor Show in January. Powered by the same 552bhp twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 engine as the M6 Coupé, M6 Cabrio and M5 Saloon, BMW now offer a 5/6 Series-based M car in every format except a Touring version.
This is such a great story isn’t it? Alex Zanardi, former F1 driver and CART champion, who tragically lost his legs in a crash at Lausitzring in 2001, goes on to become a double Paralympics gold medallist at the London 2012 games.
Last month we featured an Infographic showing the Best of the Bond vehicle gadgets, featuring twelve of the film’s most clever cars. This time we’ve got a real test of your Bond-car knowledge with twenty-four of the wild, weird and wacky that have made an appearance since Doctor No. first appeared in 1962.
With the 23rd Bond film, Skyfall, due for release in the UK on 26th October, we thought it would be fun to share an infographic which explores the history of Bond cars and their vehicle-related gadgets.
Would you like one? BMW are producing a limited run of M Performance Editions for the BMW M3 and BMW M5 – just for the UK market. Fitted with their familiar 414bhp and 552bhp V8 engines, the new BMW M3 M Performance Edition will cost £74,080, while the BMW M5 M Performance Edition will set you back a cool £95,140.
To mark the 40th anniversary year of M GmbH, BMW are offering a limited-edition M3 Coupé Frozen Silver Edition model for UK customers. 2012 will also be the final year of production for the E90/E92/E93 Model M3, before the V8-powerplant is replaced with a new turbocharged six cylinder unit in the new 3 Series, so this might also become a collectible last edition.
BMW has unveiled their Concept M135i at Geneva this morning, showcasing its new 3-door 1 Series design and the first six-cylinder petrol engine M Performance model.
Don’t get bogged down in the name – M135i – or try and correlate its powerplant with that of the previous generation 1 M. This is a straight six twin-turbocharged 1 Series from the new BMW M Performance range, that recently brought us the M550d and M50d X6/X5.
What is the BMW M6? A more focused and sporty M5? A rival for Porsche’s 911? Or, perhaps a working man’s Aston Martin? In some ways it could be all of those things, but equally none of them.
In what will be seen as the most controversial move yet by the German manufacturer, BMW has unveiled 4 new M models – all of them powered by diesel engines. In a subtle play on words BMW have named the range, BMW M Performance Models, distinguishing oh-so-subtly from their core BMW M Models such as the M5, M3, 1M and soon-to-be-launched M6.
If you’re around and about in the UK during the next few weeks, then you might possibly spot BMW’s 1 Series M Coupé on the roads near BMW’s Bracknell HQ. If not then stay tuned during the next few days for first glimpses of the undisguised new baby M-car, showing off its unique burnt orange paintwork regarding which Dr. Kay Segler, CEO of BMW M GmbH, stated last month “This paint will make history”.
We’ve got some fresh new pictures of BMW’s awesome new Z4 GT3 racer.
