Automotive Design & Production Takes a Detailed Look at the New M3

Here’s an excerpt from the highly recommended article:

What happens when you redesign 80% of a car that has been on the market for less than two years, leaving only the glass, doors, trunk lid, lights, and load bearing structure in common with the latest variant? For many companies, bankruptcy is the next step in this progression. For BMW, it’s just a step in the creation of the latest version of the M3. “Often, this is the only car in the household,” says Larry Koch, M Brand manager, BMW North America, “so we had to make it usable.” In truth, all M3s since the first E30-based version back in 1986-a car created so that BMW could build the 5,000 road versions required to race in the German Touring Car Championship-have been usable. They just haven’t always been enjoyable off the track, a point punctuated by the first M3 with its 192-hp inline four-cylinder, and the last version with its 333-hp inline six-cylinder. Both have the high-strung edginess of a methamphetamine addict.

+ “M“ IS FOR “MAKEOVER“ / Automotive Design & Production

There’s also some interesting info about both the Clubman (which was previously reported about on MotoringFile) and the 1er.