That’s the news from Le Mans this weekend via Pistonheads, and it matters more than it might first appear.

BMW M CEO Frank Van Meel confirmed that the combustion versions of the next M3 and M4 will use a revised Euro 7 S58 straight-six paired with nothing more than a mild integrated starter-generator for emissions compliance. No plug-in hardware. No heavy battery pack. No “in-between,” as Van Meel put it. “We’re sticking with the perfect combustion principle.”

The significance of that statement becomes clearer when you consider what BMW M has done elsewhere in the lineup. The current M5 carries a full plug-in hybrid system, with the added weight and mechanical complexity that entails. That was never the right answer for the M3, and it isn’t the answer here. As we reported in May, the next generation splits into two distinct cars: the electric ZA0 on the Neue Klasse platform and the combustion G84, due in 2028. The S58 carries forward into the G84, revised to meet Euro 7 standards under the M Ignite designation, arriving first in the current G80 and G82 later this year.

What That Means for the Car

The mild hybrid assist in question is an integrated starter-generator, the kind of system that smooths emissions at low load without altering power delivery character. It’s a fundamentally different proposition from a full or plug-in hybrid architecture. The G84 should arrive without the weight penalty that would compromise the fundamental balance the M3 has always traded on.

Output figures for the G84 haven’t been confirmed, but anything near or above 500 horsepower in base form is consistent with where the S58 programme is heading. More importantly, the powertrain philosophy stays intact.

The Manual

Insiders suggest a manual gearbox is unlikely to appear in the next generation cars. Van Meel’s comments at Le Mans stopped short of ruling it out entirely, pointing to demonstrated demand via the US-market G80 M3 CS Handschalter, but the combination of Euro 7 certification complexity and a shrinking supplier base for manual transmission components makes it a difficult proposition. Worth watching, but not worth counting on.

The Bigger Picture

Van Meel’s framing at Le Mans was deliberate: “the extremes, not the in-between.” The ZA0 electric car is being developed as a genuine vehicle dynamics exercise, and the G84 is designed to be the honest combustion M3 without hybridisation softening what it is. Two distinct products, two distinct powertrain philosophies, no compromise in either direction.

The G84 arrives in 2028. The S58 survives largely on its own terms. That’s the story.