Sections: //M3 GTS Nov 5th, 2009 16 Comments 
BMW North America has confirmed that the recently debuted M3 GTS is not currently planned to be released in the US market. As we reported previously, the concept of a special hardcore M3 was presented to US dealers earlier this year. However whether it be due to the economic climate or the fact that most dealers make more money on SAVs than M3s, the response was lukewarm and thus BMW is planning to not invest in federalizing the car for the US market.
Bad decision BMW, who still has nothing to compete with the 911 GT3 in the NA market, let alone the GT3 RS. Makes no sense to me. Why participate in ALMS with a race M3 when you do not follow up with a corresponding product to the actual market as Porsche does?
ReplyNot that big of a deal in my opinion; for the premium you pay for this, you can probably create your own GTS. Other than the rear wing, there doesn’t seem to be anything that hard to mod aftermarket.
ReplyColor for me is a disappointment; not original at all – pure rip off of recent Porsche and Lambo models. Why not keep it smart and metallic? Or even offer matte paint at that price.
ReplySUVs should be banned if BMW NA makes their marketing decisions on sales of X5s X3s and god forbid their M versions.
ReplyCouple more points:
Why ask dealers, and not enthusiast car owners which models should come to market?
This “federalization” excuse is getting really played out for both BMW and MINI. If Porsche can bring its Euro products to market, why can’t BMW? If Mitsubishi can bring Recaros to its street cars, why can’t MINI?
ReplyHA HA HA HA HA O’WELL i cant wait for the summer M day. I shell deffernatly book a test drive. A bit of a change from my 120d coupe. Your laws are stopping you from get some of the best cars in the world. Dont worry Bmw will bring it over the demand will be high. So guys can play need for speed for real. If BMW can build ALMS m3 they can change the gts. the M3 alms is not raced in europe the fia are not happy with it. maybe thats the whole reason for the GTS, So they can race it in Europe. This is in my top 5 BMW’S M1 Procar, E30 M3 EVO 2 , 3.0 CSL , E46 M3 CSL. This is a classic. I hope you guys get it
ReplyDean- The M3 GT2 ALMS car is not raced in the EU for several reasons, and it is not because of the FIA. BMW could have built a different car from the get go but their focus was for ALMS. The competition is greater in class in the US and BMW did not want to build a prototype. Another reason is BMW will have something else in store for Europe soon if what we are hearing comes to fruition.
Realistically this car would have no market in the US- At a price well over $100K there would be very few people who would spend that kind of money on the car, they would opt for a Porsche or Aston because those names have more cache than BMW at this point.
As for federalization- The reason Porsche can do it is because they charge such a premium and there is so much profit built into the regular models it offsets some of these costs. Mitsubishi and VW are able to sell more volume of their cars so the cost of the testing etc. is divided more regularly.
If you have to spend $200k to crash test a car/seats and only plan on selling a few 100 of them at the most the cost is significantly higher per unit than if you were to sell 10,000 of them.
ReplyAs much as I love this car and BMW in general for 100k BMW is very low on my list of cars I would buy. The BMW brand slots for me slots in the 3-90k range and even at the top range there are still a lot of attractive cars imo.
ReplyI don’t have the money to purchase a BMW like this but I’ll tell you that even though the volume would be limited this would be an awesome halo M3 to show off what BMW can do here in the U.S. Anyone remember the E36 M3 CSL sold in limited numbers here in the U.S. in the 90’s? What an awesome car but I think the timing was kind of wrong. By the way I am an M3 owner so I am speaking from the experience of owning one.
ReplyBMW didn’t pass on this because “BMW dealers make more on SUVs”… that’s just someone making the typical (bad) assumptions. Reality is that the current fleet of M cars are already very expensive and are very slow sellers, especially in the past year with the economic environment being what it is… BMW was smart to see that the market for this car would be VERY small, it would have to be VERY expensive to cover their costs, and it just doesn’t make sense. Who is walking in to a BMW dealer right now to buy a $120k-150k M3? (who knows how much the final price would be)
ReplyFillip- I agree. It is the same reason that the US does not see the full entertainment package on the 7 Series- It would break the US price point threshold.
No one in the US is spending that much on an ///M3; I don’t care how fast it is- US consumers are all about the badge- make an ///M6 like this and it may sell. It is just too tough to tell you neighbor Mr. Jones that you spent a $140k on your ///M3 and he bought and Aston Martin or Porsche GT3 etc… you would look like someone that overpaid for your lowly 3 series badge.
ReplyWait there is more competition in ALMS than in FIA GT or ACO? ALMS this year had races where you could be last in class and still be on the podium….
ReplyIn the GT2 class there was never a race like that. There are other reasons that I am not at liberty to discuss, but just note that ALMS has more variety and that there is a push for Green Technologies.
ACO- is not a governing body they just host the 24 hrs of Le Mans as I understand it- IMSA is the governing body.
BMW competes in other venues in the EU- in the US (the largest market) what else would they be in? NASCAR?
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