Last BMW M3 Coupe Rolls Off the Production Line Marking the End of a Naming Era
We guess everything has to come to an end, and that's the case for the BMW M3 E92 Coupe, the very last example of which rolled off the assembly line today at the Bavarian firm's plant in Regensburg, Germany.
While the related E93 M3 Convertible will continue to be manufactured alongside the regular 3 Series Sedan, Coupe and Convertible at the same factory for a few more months until this September, this is the last time we'll see the famed "M3" badge used on a two-door model.
You see, BMW has split its compact executive model's offerings into two different nameplates, with the more family orientated cars keeping the "3-Series" badge, and the sportier looking vehicles like the Coupe and Convertible adopting the brand-new 4-Series moniker. We will see a new M3 in the future, but it will be a four-door sedan model.
The patriarch of the M3 family, the four-cylinder E30 generation model, was introduced in 1986 originally as a coupe (there was also a limited run and now highly collectible convertible version). It was followed up by the six-cylinder E36 M3 in 1993, which is the least desirable (and arguably, the softest) of all M3s, and the E46 generation in 2000, which many consider if not the best M3, certainly second after the original.
Unveiled in 2007, the E9X generation M3 (E90 Sedan, E92 Coupe and E93 Convertible) was the first V8-powered model in the series. The Coupe was by far the most successful, with BMW delivering more than 40,000 examples worldwide. The sedan M3 added close to 10,000 units to the total, while just under 16,000 units of the convertible edition have been built to date.
Over the six years the E9X M3 remained in production, BMW introduced a handful of special edition models including the GTS Coupe, fitted with a bigger and more powerful at 444HP (450PS) 4.4-liter V8, bespoke chassis components and aerodynamic measures, plus a two-seat cockpit, of which only 135 examples were made.
Even rarer is the M3 CRT (Carbon Racing Technology) that joined the fray in 2011 in a limited run of 67 units. The Sedan model was powered by the GTS' 444HP (450PS) 4.4-liter V8 and boasted exclusively manufactured lightweight components.
To celebrate the triple success of the brand's DTM comeback after winning the drivers’, team and manufacturers’ titles, BMW also launched a limited-run M3 DTM Champion Edition. A grand total of 54 cars were made, one for each DTM race victory notched up by BMW between 1987 and 2012.
The story of the M3 Coupe (and Convertible) will continue with the new M4 series that will also mark the return of the straight-six engine to the range, albeit with two, or according to some accounts, three turbochargers.
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[Source: carscoops.com]
