BMW of North America has not confirmed, but we expect American-spec iX3s to enter the Debrecen production late summer or early fall. If production stays on schedule, the first U.S. customers should start receiving their iX3s in late September or early October. We’ll update if anything shifts.

The iX3 50 xDrive: The One Arriving First

The launch model for the U.S. is the iX3 50 xDrive, and it’s the most capable version of the car. Two electric motors deliver a combined 463 horsepower and 476 lb-ft of torque, with 0-60 coming in at 4.9 seconds. The 108.7 kWh battery runs on an 800-volt architecture that supports up to 400 kW DC fast charging, capable of adding roughly 230 miles in about 10 minutes. For home charging, the U.S. model maxes out at 15.4 kW AC, which works out to roughly 7 hours and 45 minutes for a full charge. All U.S. models also support bidirectional charging, so the car can power appliances or serve as a backup during an outage.

New and Older Colors

The iX3 launched in Europe with six colors: Alpine White (the only no-cost option) and five metallic finishes — Space Silver, M Brooklyn Grey, Ocean Wave Blue, Sapphire Black, and Polarized Grey. Two additional colors came shortly after launch: Eucalyptus Green and Vegas Red — the latter sold as Fire Red in other markets. Polarized Grey is a richly dark purple-tinted shade that looks particularly strong with the M Sport Package Pro’s blacked-out trim.

Now if these are not enough, the good news is that more is coming: BMW Individual colors are confirmed for mid-2026, and Frozen Space Silver and Frozen Ocean Wave Blue matte finishes will also be available, with the Debrecen paint shop specifically built to handle them.

What Follows in Early 2027

The iX3 40 sits below the 50 xDrive in the lineup. It drops the front motor for a rear-wheel-drive setup and swaps in a smaller 82.6 kWh battery pack, trading some range and performance for a lower price point. Power comes down to 315 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque, with 0-62 mph taking 5.9 seconds — a full second slower than the dual-motor car. The rear-wheel-drive iX3 40 is reportedly scheduled to enter U.S. production in November, when the 40 xDrive — a dual-motor version of the entry-level car — will also begin rolling off the line in Debrecen. An M Performance derivative and a full M model are also planned further down the road.

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Fund III will target startups from seed through Series B stages in North America and Europe, with investment themes spanning agentic AI, physical AI (think robotics and autonomous industrial systems), manufacturing technologies, industrial software, and advanced materials. BMW Group CEO Oliver Zipse called it “the perfect time” to launch, citing AI’s potential to transform operations across automotive value chains.

Is AI a Fad?

That framing isn’t just boilerplate. BMW i Ventures has a track record of orienting each fund around whatever it sees as the next structural shift in the industry. The first fund, launched in 2016, centered on autonomous vehicles and digital technology. The second, in 2021, pivoted to sustainability and supply chain resilience. This time, BMW says that AI isn’t just another theme — it’s the foundation everything else will run on.

The harder task, as with any fund chasing a headline-grabbing technology, is separating the companies doing something real from those simply surfing the wave. Sage, who operates out of the firm’s Silicon Valley office, points to portfolio company Synera as the kind of unglamorous-but-impactful AI play the fund is looking for. Synera started as engineering workflow software for industrial designers and has since layered AI agents on top of its platform — agents that can compress a three-week engineering design cycle down to minutes by automating decisions that previously required multiple rounds of human review.

The fund hasn’t made any investments yet out of Fund III, though the second fund did quietly back five AI-focused startups that BMW i Ventures isn’t yet naming. Fund II’s broader portfolio now includes more than 35 companies.

One thing that isn’t changing: the firm’s commitment to circularity and materials innovation. BMW was careful to frame the AI focus as additive rather than a replacement for prior themes. Supply chain exposure to constrained or geopolitically sensitive materials remains a concern, and AI is increasingly a tool for addressing that — not a reason to stop caring about it.

Since 2011, BMW i Ventures has invested in more than 90 companies and seen more than 30 exits, including GaN Systems, which Infineon acquired for $830 million, and 11 portfolio companies that have gone public.

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Not only is the 740d more potent than before, but so is the M760e. The M Performance 7 Series with a plug-in hybrid setup gains a significant 40 horsepower, bringing total system output to 603 hp. BMW has tweaked the turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six by raising the Euro 7-compliant “B58” to 420 hp. Although torque remains unchanged, the combined 800 Nm (590 lb-ft) with assistance from the electric motor should be more than enough.

While the 7 Series isn’t necessarily about straight-line speed, the M760e can still deliver. It reaches 62 mph (100 km/h) from a standstill in 4.2 seconds, a tenth quicker than before. For a fun comparison, that matches a rear-wheel-drive M3 Sedan with a manual gearbox.

At full tilt, BMW limits the top speed to 155 mph (250 km/h) when the combustion engine is running. In purely electric mode, the M760e won’t go faster than 87 mph (140 km/h). Both figures remain unchanged from the pre-facelift model. BMW fine-tuned the quad exhaust setup to deliver “an M-specific soundtrack to match the car’s sporty character.”

Since this is a plug-in hybrid, electric range remains a key selling point. Thanks to a lithium-ion battery pack with a net energy content of 18.7 kWh, the M760e can cover up to 50 miles (80 kilometers) in the WLTP cycle without using any fuel. With the combustion engine also running, BMW quotes combined-cycle fuel consumption as low as 5.6 liters per 100 kilometers.

That works out to 42 miles per gallon, and it even beats the 740d we mentioned earlier, at least on paper. WLTP figures account for the electric range provided by the plug-in hybrid setup, but real-world efficiency depends largely on whether the driver keeps the battery charged. Reports vary on how often owners plug in, so it ultimately comes down to driver behavior.

The new M760e will be available in Europe from November, with German pricing starting at €159,900. BMW has also confirmed local pricing for the other M Performance version, the fully electric i7 M70, from €182,400. In 2027, a third M flavor will join the lineup with a V8 engine and European availability. The eight-cylinder model will replace the 760i, which was never offered in Europe during the pre-LCI era.

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But BMW isn’t giving up on the oil-burner just yet. The Munich-based luxury automaker continues to embrace its “Power of Choice” slogan. From the 1 Series and X1 all the way up to the 7 Series and X7, buyers can still choose a diesel engine. Case in point: the recently updated flagship sedan retains its “B57” powertrain.

With the Life Cycle Impulse, BMW further refined the 3.0-liter turbodiesel engine. Engineers extracted an additional 13 horsepower, raising total output to 308 hp. It’s worth noting that the figure also includes the mild-hybrid system, with an electric motor integrated into the eight-speed automatic transmission. Torque remains unchanged at 670 Nm (494 lb-ft).

Let’s be honest: drivers are unlikely to notice the extra power. Nevertheless, BMW says the gain cuts a tenth of a second from the sprint time. The new 740d reaches 62 mph (100 km/h) in 5.7 seconds, down from 5.8. Flat out, the only diesel-powered 7 Series variant remains electronically limited to 155 mph (250 km/h).

Diesel engines are all about efficiency, and the 740d does not disappoint. BMW quotes combined fuel consumption as low as 6.5 liters/100 km, a remarkable figure given the vehicle’s weight. That works out to approximately 36.1 miles per gallon, not that America is getting a diesel 7 Series anyway. The inline-six diesel is now Euro 7-compliant and runs more quietly than before.

As before, the 740d won’t be exclusive to Europe. BMW intends to sell the diesel-powered 7 Series in other markets as well. Offered exclusively with xDrive, the B57 engine will be available to order on the Old Continent from November. In Germany, pricing starts at €122,900. It will sit alongside its gasoline counterpart, the €117,900 740 xDrive, as the first G70 variant sold in Europe with a gasoline-only powertrain.

By bringing its six-cylinder diesel into Euro 7 compliance, BMW has secured its future. That suggests the next generation of large SUVs will likely use the B57 as well. Consequently, expect the X5 G65, debuting this summer, to offer a diesel engine. Likewise, the X7 G67 should follow in 2027. On a related note, next year’s 5 Series facelift will likely switch to the latest iteration of the 3.0-liter diesel engine.

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A silent update on BMW USA’s website for the 2027 iX3 product page reveals a new range figure: 434 miles. However, it’s not an official EPA rating but rather another estimate based on BMW’s testing. Be that as it may, the company seems confident that owners will be able to go farther than initially expected. As always, range depends on several factors, including wheel size and driving style.

At 434 miles (698 kilometers), the new range of the iX3 50 xDrive narrows the gap to that of its European sibling. As a refresher, BMW quotes a preliminary WLTP figure of 500 miles (805 kilometers). In China’s even more forgiving CLTC test cycle, the long-wheelbase iX3 aims to cover more than 559 miles (900 kilometers) before needing a recharge.

While the range figure has changed, the estimated starting price has remained intact. BMW USA continues to say the base 2027 iX3 will start at “around $60,000.” The model’s launch is still pinned for sometime this summer, and we’ve heard that the first deliveries are expected near the end of September or early October.

Meanwhile, the configurator is reportedly set to go live in June, when BMW is rumored to open the order books and take deposits from early adopters. The first US-spec iX3s are likely to hit the assembly line at the Debrecen plant in Hungary at the beginning of September. In early 2027, additional single- and dual-motor variants will join the lineup in North America.

Over in Europe, BMW has already expanded the portfolio with a single-motor, rear-wheel-drive iX3 40. It not only drops the front motor but also switches to a smaller battery pack. A dual-motor iX3 40 xDrive is likely to follow, along with an M Performance derivative and a full-fat M model.

If you’d rather have a sedan, the 2027 i3 aims to deliver 440 miles in the U.S. As with the crossover, we expect that figure to increase closer to launch. The i3 will go on sale stateside next year and should undercut the equivalent iX3.

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Now, over a decade later, the M3 Lime Rock Park Edition’s special equipment (mostly, Competition Package spec and some carbon fiber in the front and back) and limited production numbers (BMW only made 200 examples) have pushed values considerably higher than run-of-the-mill M3s. That said: one of the most recent listings on Bring a Trailer showed that the bargains are still out there. But it doesn’t come without compromise.

M3 Lime Rock Park Edition Bargain Buy

The 2013 BMW M3 Coupe Lime Rock Park (LRP) Edition in question sold for $50,500. That doesn’t sound like a particularly notable value, but its clean Carfax and just 59,000 miles make it firmly in the “middle tier” of LRP cars. That means — generally — a value of around $60,000 or so, give or take. Even a cursory glance reveals some decent modifications, too. Black painted BBS CH-R wheels wear new Michelin rubber. Keen observers will also note a vaunted Dinan badge on the back, complementing the car’s aftermarket exhaust, intake, ECU, and suspension — all Dinan components. But modifications are a bit of a thread with this car.

This exact M3 LRP popped up on Bring a Trailer almost exactly a year ago. Here, we can see the modifications extended further, shifting the car away from “OEM+ enthusiast build” and into more polarizing territory. That’s a critical distinction — especially on a site like Bring a Trailer where originality and documentation drive bids. A roof spoiler, orange grille stripes, and windshield banner are just some of the “less than OEM” choices made by the previous owner. Inside, orange steering wheel trim and shifter trim match an even more offensive orange center console and, well, most of the dashboard. It’s a wild look, and probably a lot of the reason the car only sold for $48,500 back then.

Was It a Good Buy?

The M3 LRP was represented by a fairly reliable seller on Bring a Trailer. What’s more, it clearly got some rest and rejuvenation over the last year  — the most offensively offbeat mods were removed. The car wasn’t exactly the perfect spec — I think a manual transmission would’ve been more fun — and still might have some unknowns (the ad claims “back fees may apply for California buyers”, and it doesn’t have CARB-legal modifications). But hey: for a car that can fetch as much as $95,000 at auction (or more), half price doesn’t seem like a bad deal. You also can’t take away the fact that the Lime Rock Park Edition sold has some seriously good Dinan goodies and relatively low miles. Overall, I think the buyer got a pretty good deal. Hopefully sales like this give hope to enthusiasts who think there are no good deals left out there.

Source: Bring a Trailer (here’s the original listing from last year, too: 2013 BMW M3 Coupe Lime Rock Park Edition)

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Why The XB8 Name?

The XB8 is trickier, because there’s no X8. BMW has held the X8 trademark since 1998, the same year it locked up most of the X-series names before launching the X5. What was supposed to become the X8 eventually became the XM — M Division’s first standalone performance car in decades, positioned against Bentley and Lamborghini Urus buyers. That hasn’t gone particularly well. Sales have been soft, the ride was criticized for being too stiff for a car this expensive, and the polarizing styling didn’t help. So the question being raised by the XB8 trademark is whether BMW is quietly building an exit ramp from the XM experiment.

An ALPINA XB8 would be a different pitch entirely. Softer, more focused on luxury than lap times, with ALPINA’s signature interior treatment and a power output tuned for autobahn cruising rather than track sessions. Think less Urus competitor, more rival to the Bentayga or Maybach GLS. That’s a market BMW has been eyeing for years, and with ALPINA now a fully integrated BMW Group brand, the infrastructure to actually build something like that is there in a way it wasn’t before.

Worth noting: BMW has also recently trademarked XB6, which hints at an ALPINA take on the next X6. None of this is confirmed product, and BMW protects model names it never uses all the time. But the XB3 in particular is hard to read as purely defensive — there’s a real gap in the X3 lineup, and ALPINA is now exactly the tool BMW has to fill it. And honestly, an ALPINA XB3 would be perfect considering how well received the XD3 was under the Buchloe-based leadership.

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The obvious explanation for BMW’s success is the X-series SUVs, where rear-wheel drive isn’t even available in Germany anymore. The xDrive rate there is around 80%. But passenger cars now tell a similar story: 41.9% of BMW’s sedan and coupe registrations go out the door with all-wheel drive. The shift isn’t just SUV buyers hedging against winter roads.

In 2009, xDrive was on fewer than 1 in 6 BMWs sold in Germany (14.9%). By Q1 2026 it’s 60.2% — a fourfold increase over 17 years. The only real pause came around 2014–2016, where growth stalled between 34–36%. That coincides with a period when fuel prices were falling and there was less pressure on buyers to justify the AWD premium. The 2021–2022 jump to 53% was the first time xDrive crossed the majority threshold — and it held there, suggesting it wasn’t a fluke of one particular model year or launch cycle.

At the model level, the 8 Series numbers are telling the full story. One customer in Q1 bought a rear-drive 840i. Every other 8 or M8 buyer chose xDrive. In the 5 Series, 61% went all-wheel drive. In the 3 Series, nearly half did. Some of this reflects genuine customer preference. Some of it reflects the fact that BMW has removed rear-drive options from many of its higher-output variants, so buyers who want the performance spec have no real decision to make. The 7 Series facelift (G70 LCI) follows the pattern — the rear-drive i7 eDrive50 is discontinued, its slot taken by the i7 50 xDrive.

What’s quietly changed is how BMW talks about it. The Neue Klasse iX3 and i3 don’t carry xDrive badges anywhere on the body. The facelifted 7 Series drops the badge too in some markets (the U.S. retains it).

The headliner for later this year is the BMW M2 M xDrive — the first M compact sport car with four driven wheels. The M xDrive system runs rear-biased and includes a full rear-wheel-drive mode, which matters if you’re the kind of M2 buyer who’d otherwise be skeptical. Whether that’s enough to win them over is another question.

[Source: BimmerToday]

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What the Revival Actually Is

The Goodwood Motor Circuit is a former RAF airfield in West Sussex, England that opened for motor racing in 1948 and ran proper events — Formula One, sports cars, touring cars — through 1966, then closed. For three decades it sat largely untouched. When the Revival launched in 1998, it was restored to its original configuration and built around one unusual rule: everything stays in the period of 1948 to 1966. The cars, the signage, the paddock equipment. And the people. Everyone dresses the part — drivers, marshals, vendors, spectators. Not as a theme. As the actual point.

The racing is not decorative. These are real machines driven hard by people genuinely trying to win. Jenson Button has raced a Jaguar E-Type here. Tom Kristensen has wrestled a TVR Griffith. Dario Franchitti has thrown a Cobra sideways through the chicane. The paddock is open to anyone who walks in — meaning you can stand a foot away from a car worth a million pounds while a mechanic in period overalls tunes the carburetor. That doesn’t happen anywhere else.

BMW’s History with Goodwood Revival

BMW’s history runs through most of the eras the Revival celebrates. The 3.0 CSL — the Batmobile touring car that won the first of seven European Touring Car Championships in 1973 — is a regular paddock fixture. The 328 roadster, the M1, the Alpina- and Schnitzer-prepared saloons that dominated through the ’70s and ’80s. BMW-powered Elvas have raced the Madgwick Cup. If you know your BMW history, you keep recognizing things.

At the 2025 Revival, BMW brought five cars from its Art Car Collection to the Earls Court Motor Show as part of the program’s 50th anniversary world tour. The collection started in 1975 when French racing driver Hervé Poulain asked BMW if he could have an artist paint one of their race cars for Le Mans. Alexander Calder did the first one. It didn’t finish, but BMW kept going. Twenty cars later, the contributors include Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, David Hockney, and Jeff Koons. For BMW people, it lands differently than it would for a general audience.

BMW Group Classic also keeps a permanent stand at the event. John Surtees — the only man to win world championships on both two wheels and four — once showed up at Revival with his personal BMW 507 and the distributor failed. He walked over to the BMW Group Classic stand, explained the situation, and left with the part he needed, taken off one of the factory display cars. That’s a better advertisement for what BMW Classic actually does at Revival than anything in a press release.

There’s a Trip. You Can Go on It.

Two automotive journalists — Travis Okulski and Sam Smith — have organized a group trip to the 2026 Goodwood Revival, September 17 to 21. Okulski was editor-in-chief of Road & Track and now of the BMW Car Club of America’s Roundel. Smith was executive editor of Road & Track and in 2015 actually raced in the Revival, qualifying on the front row in a Jaguar entered by the brand’s heritage division. They are not automotive tourists. The trip reflects that.

Getting to Revival is easy. Finding somewhere decent to stay is the problem. More than 30,000 people converge on rural West Sussex and most lodging within 40 minutes of the track books out years in advance. Okulski and Smith solved this by securing exclusive use of Cowdray House — a private 19th-century country estate 10 miles from the circuit in England’s South Downs. Henry VIII visited. Queen Elizabeth I visited. So there is a lot of cool history there.

The group has exclusive use of 110 acres of grounds, pools, a spa, billiards, tennis, cricket, and a working farm. Each evening everyone comes back for dinner. Each morning starts with a full English before the transfer to the circuit. The three days at Goodwood include three-course lunches, afternoon tea, champagne, full paddock access, dedicated trackside viewing areas, and a professional photographer. Surprise motorsport guests will join throughout the weekend — Smith and Okulski won’t name them in advance, which given their combined four decades in the sport, is actually more exciting than a list would be.

Pricing is $16,000 per person based on double occupancy, or $24,000 for single. A $12,000 deposit is due at booking, with the full balance due by June 17, 2026. Flights and trip insurance are not included. More information at revivalspark.com, by phone at +1 734.474.4066, or by email at Goodwood2026@RevivalSpark.com.

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The conditions for the iX3 were rough. Temperatures were around freezing, which punishes battery range. The test car came on 21-inch wheels rather than 20s, trimming WLTP range by 23 km. Nyland reckons the cold alone cost 5 to 10 minutes off the final time. Run this test in double-digit temperatures and the iX3 probably lands in his all-time top three, somewhere near the Tesla Model S Long Range.

What’s worth paying attention to here isn’t just the time. The iX3 posts that result through a specific combination: big battery, fast charging, and efficiency that holds up when you’re driving hard on the motorway. Most EVs are good at one or two of those. The iX3 does all three, and then also has 469 hp and enough room to carry people comfortably. That’s what Nyland kept coming back to — not just a single impressive stat, but the fact that nothing obvious was sacrificed.

The car had already done a different kind of 1,000 km run — driven conservatively from BMW’s Debrecen factory to Munich without a single charging stop. BMW says the iX3 50 xDrive (NA5) is rated at 421 to 500 miles WLTP depending on wheel size — 20-inch wheels hit the top end, while the 21s used in Nyland’s test drop it by around 14 miles. In the US, BMW’s preliminary EPA estimate sits at up to 400 miles, though a final certified figure hasn’t been published yet. China’s CLTC cycle, the most generous of the three standards, puts it at 559 miles (900 km). The gap between WLTP and EPA is around 20%, which is pretty standard across the industry.

The i3 sedan edges further ahead: BMW claims 900 km WLTP and 440 miles EPA, a 95 km improvement over the iX3 that’s largely down to the sedan’s better aerodynamics. So we expect the 1,000 kilometer test to be easily achieved with the NA0 i3.

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Production of the current G29 Z4 wrapped up in Europe at the end of 2025, and the US market gets a Final Edition M40i running through April 2026 — after that, it’s done. BMW has confirmed no successor is planned. Toyota, by contrast, has already promised to bring the Supra back. There’s no approved next Z car. Not hybrid, not electric, not even at the concept stage.

And if one ever does come, the question hanging over it is whether BMW would commit to a combustion engine or default to the Neue Klasse EV architecture it’s betting the company on. Porsche is already dealing with this exact dilemma with the next Boxster, and even Porsche openly acknowledges the emotional gap between an EV and an ICE car. A Z4 that’s quick and efficient but silent and disconnected would be a Z4 in name only.

Hantig’s concept takes a clear stance on that question: keep the inline-six, skip electrification entirely. BMW already has plenty of electrified options. What it doesn’t have is a focused sports car — something with a clear brief, a single purpose, and enough character to justify its own existence. The M division can’t carry that weight alone forever.

The Design Brief

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The constraints Hantig set for himself are the same ones that defined every Z car worth remembering: long hood, short overhangs, and a driving position low enough that you feel like you’re sitting inside the car rather than on top of it. Compromise those proportions and you’re not making a roadster — you’re making a 2 Series Cabrio with a different badge. The concept pushes the Z4 toward a more muscular, mature form while staying anchored to those fundamentals.

What He Explored

The front end takes the Neue Klasse direction — slimmer, horizontal kidney grilles positioned high on the nose, with DRL function integrated directly into them. The lower air intake reads as a continuation of the same graphic, so the whole face resolves as one idea rather than separate elements stacked together. The hood is cleanly surfaced but sculpted enough to signal what’s underneath.

The side profile is where the proportions do most of the talking. Long hood, low roofline, muscular rear haunches — and the Z graphic in the body-side surfacing, which has always been the clearest visual signature of the series. Here it comes from the tension in the volumes rather than sitting on top of them as decoration.

The rear is where Hantig spent the most time. The taillights are integrated into an extruded 3D volume rather than sitting flush — a geometric mass that rhymes with the front end and gives the car a strong visual anchor from behind. The diffuser continues that same geometric logic, tying the whole rear face together.

BMW’s Long History With Roadsters

BMW’s history with Z models — from the Z1 to the Z8 — proves that comebacks can happen, sometimes years after a model line disappears. The roadster segment isn’t dead. Demand for compact, focused, two-seat sports cars hasn’t evaporated — it’s just gone underserved. The Z4 worked because it was mechanical, analog-leaning, and human in scale. Whatever comes next, if anything does, should be those things too. Hantig’s concept is a case for what that could look like — made by someone who has designed for the industry long enough to know the difference between a concept that flatters and one that’s actually buildable.

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An ALPINA B6 Like No Other

The ALPINA B6, based on the E21 3 Series, left Buchloe with a 2.8-liter inline-six ripped from the contemporary 528i. Naturally, ALPINA dialed in the engine, swapping in Mahle pistons and increasing compression. But in 2005 — 21 years ago and 26 years into the car’s life — the then-owner made an important decision. For whatever reason, the 2.8-liter mill was removed in favor of a larger 3.8-liter M30 six-pot. The engine came courtesy of Metric Mechanic, a Missouri-based BMW engine shop, and makes around 285 horsepower. That’s a far cry from the 200 horsepower that the original tuned-up 2.8-liter made. Power still gets sent to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual and a limited slip differential.

It’s impossible, though, to leave well enough alone. So, plenty of other modifications followed behind the 3.8-liter swap. Recaro seats — sporting ALPINA colors to boot — and some light suspension mods, namely Bilstein shocks and H&R springs. Despite the car’s awesome blue paint — according to the seller, a “variant of Tanzanite Blue” — it actually left the factory in a rare shade called Topaz Brown. A bit of a loss until you remember just how good of a color Tanzanite Blue is. We couldn’t use the pictures from the listing, but luckily had a picture of a blue E21 lying around. You can check out the listing for yourself on Bring a Trailer, which we’ve linked below.

What Makes the ALPINA B6 2.8 Special?

Hot-rodding additions aside — which makes this specific ALPINA exceptionally “in the spirit” of ALPINA, in my opinion — the E21-based ALPINA B6 is a fairly uncommon find. This car is number 66 of just 533 produced between 1978 and 1983. The E21 3 Series was, of course, the first generation of the now ubiquitous 3 Series. ALPINA’s success with six-cylinder 3ers (though primarily from the contemporary C1 2.3 rather than the 2.8 itself) arguably started here and speaks for itself nearly 50 years later.

Would this car be “worth more” sans modifications? Very likely. After all, ALPINA was arguably an engine builder before anything else, and removing that integral component from the equation could rub some would-be buyers the wrong way. The car failed to meet the seller’s reserve price in 2021, reaching $42,250, which when you consider its relatively low mileage (87k kilometers/54k miles), is not so surprising. For comparison, a mostly factory car sold for $106k in 2024 with quite a bit more mileage (120k kilometers/74k miles). Assuming a reasonable reserve, this ALPINA is perfect for someone who wants to actually drive the car, rather than treat it as an investment. An extra 85 horsepower over stock certainly doesn’t hurt, either. Bidding ends Sunday, May 3.

Source: Bring a Trailer

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BMW intends to offer the new color either on its own or in combination with Space Silver for the upper body. However, the two-tone Individual finish won’t be available until November 2026, when additional color combinations are set to arrive. Vancouver Green is a regular metallic color, so it shouldn’t be too pricey.

Codenamed “C84,” Vancouver Green joins an already generous list of green shades available across numerous BMWs. These are some of the green hues buyers can pick from, with availability depending on the model: British Racing Green, Urban Green II, Anglesey Green, Boston Green, Oxford Green II, Java Green II, Signal Green, and Malachite Green. While it’s always good to have options, the subtle color differences can be difficult to spot in official images, no matter how good the photos supplied by BMW or any other automaker are.

Seeing the cars in the metal is always the best way to choose a color. However, it’s not always possible to compare variations of a hue in real life. This green will likely be offered on additional models as BMW’s exterior finishes are rarely exclusive to a single vehicle.

Vancouver Green and the Vancouver Green/Space Silver finish are only two of more than 500 colors and color combinations available for the 7 Series LCI. Also new for 2027 is Individual Frozen Space Silver. However, the matte paint job isn’t a first in the BMW range. We’ve already seen it on the new iX3, but it hadn’t been offered on the luxury sedan until now.

If you ask nicely, BMW might come up with a unique paint for “exclusive special-edition variants.” Deep-pocketed buyers can even commission a “tailor-made one-off car.” Looking back, Rolls-Royce has traditionally been the brand associated with this level of customization. However, it appears the core BMW brand is catching up. Expect even more sophisticated exterior finishes once BMW ALPINA starts rolling out its own models.

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Two-tone options range from solid and metallic to Frozen/Frozen and metallic/Frozen combinations. The latter is a new-for-2027 option shown here on an M760e. It combines Tanzanite Blue Metallic for the upper body with a matte finish for the lower section. The two shades are separated by a manually applied coachline. Completing the finish takes more than 75 hours and involves significant manual labor in a 12-step process with more than 20 employees. Elsewhere, those 22-inch wheels are the largest ever fitted from the factory in the 7 Series’ history.

Inside, buyers can choose from a dozen Individual upholsteries for those who want to upgrade from the standard Veganza interior. Real leather, cashmere wool, and Alcantara are all available, combined with wood, crystal glass, and metal surfaces. But what if none of these goodies suit your tastes? Enter BMW Individual Manufaktur.

For its wealthiest buyers, BMW offers a one-off program to turn the facelifted 7 Series into a unique build with exclusive features. It takes up to a year to customize a car and fulfill “almost every unusual wish and every detail of the vehicle.” The German luxury brand goes even further, saying that “in theory, everything is individually perfected.”

With such bold claims, we’re left wondering how ALPINA models will be pushed further upmarket than their equivalent BMWs. Regardless of badge and astronomical price, even a fully loaded 7 Series won’t have a V12. The twin-turbocharged, 6.75-liter “N74” engine is likely to remain exclusive to Rolls-Royce. It’s probably one of the reasons why the BMW Group isn’t worried about overlap between the nicest BMW/ALPINA models and those from Goodwood.

Highly individualized 7 Series models are far from a novelty. Karl Lagerfeld’s two-tone 750iL E32 led the way in 1992 and was followed a few years later by the stretched L7 E38. If those special builds are any indication, the sky’s the limit when customizing a G70. Of course, as long as the bank account can support such wild projects.

First published by https://www.bmwblog.com

The M5 CSL V10 is the crowd-pleaser argument — 630 horsepower, 8,750 rpm, 150 kilograms lighter than the standard car, a 7:50 Nürburgring lap that would have embarrassed almost everything on sale at the time. The M6 CSL V10 makes a similar case but adds active aero, a retractable front spoiler, and those double-strut mirrors that ended up on every M car that followed. The M2 CSL F87 is the purist’s pick — 450 horsepower in the lightest, shortest M car of its generation, essentially the M2 CS but harder. All reasonable. None of them the right answer.

The right answer is the E46 M3 CSL V8.

A CSL Already Born Perfect

By 2003 the M3 CSL had done something close to impossible. It took the E46 M3 — already the car most enthusiasts pointed to when pressed for the best driving machine on earth — and made it better. Carbon fiber roof. Stripped door cards. Rear bench gone. A reworked S54 spinning to 8,000 rpm with 360 horsepower. It weighed 1,385 kilograms. The steering felt like a direct connection between your palms and the front tyres. It lapped the Nürburgring in 7 minutes 50. In 2003.

By almost universal agreement among journalists who drove it, it was the finest M car BMW had made. Some went further. And yet the engineers at Garching — people constitutionally unable to leave well alone — looked at this car and asked the dangerous question: what if it had a V8?

The Ghost in the Garage

BMW M built a V8 M3 CSL. They never sold it. Most people don’t know it exists. The prototype was designated the S65VB40. BMW M took a press-fleet CSL donated after its media duties and used it as the base. The engine came from the S62 — the 4.9-liter V8 from the E39 M5 and Z8 — but this wasn’t a transplant. They developed a 4.0-liter high-revving version producing 430 horsepower. Not a lazy torque-heavy V8. Something tuned to rev, tuned to sing.

The V8 needed more air than the six. The standard CSL had one opening in the lower bumper. This one needed two. The team cut the holes and built a new bumper cover by hand — it’s the only external tell that something underneath is different. Inside, it’s a normal CSL: full bucket seats, lightweight center console, everything stripped for weight. The 110 kilograms saved over the standard M3 didn’t all survive — the heavier V8 gave some of it back.

It stayed a one-off. The work fed into the S85 V10 for the E60 M5 and, more directly, the S65 V8 that went into the E90/E92/E93 M3 from 2007 — 414 horsepower, 8,300 rpm, one of the best engines BMW M ever made. The prototype had shown them where to go. Years before anyone heard it on a road.

Why It Was the Obvious Choice

This is pretty simple to argue. The case was already made before that prototype existed. In 2001 BMW M ran the M3 GTR in the American Le Mans Series. Regulations required a road car. So BMW built around a hundred examples of the M3 GTR Straßenversion. That car had already put a 4.0-liter V8 into an E46 body and driven it on public roads. That happened in 2001. Two years later, the engineers at Garching were asking whether the same engine belonged in the CSL. It’s not a difficult question when someone has already done it.

What It Would Have Meant

Start with the existing CSL — 110 kilograms lighter than the standard M3, carbon roof, stripped interior, suspension recalibrated to the point where the car feels almost aggressive at low speed. The SMG gearbox sharpened to match.

Swap the S54 six for the 4.0-liter V8. Seventy more horsepower, completely different character. Not the linear climb of the six but the sudden authority of eight cylinders loading up below 4,000 rpm and then erupting past it. And the sound. The CSL’s stripped cabin would have put that V8 directly into your chest — into that place behind the sternum that has no medical name but every driver knows.

The V8 was heavier than the S54, maybe 25 to 30 kilograms across the nose. BMW M engineers have never treated extra weight as a conclusion, only a problem to solve. More carbon, lighter panels. It would have been handled. The result would have sat alongside the GTR Straßenversion as one of the defining E46 variants — but actually buyable. A car for the person who’d driven the M3 CSL and spent the drive home thinking: more.

The Decision That Wasn’t Made

BMW M let the six-cylinder CSL stand alone. The prototype went into storage. There’s no official explanation. The practical reasons aren’t hard to imagine — recertification costs, development budget, the risk of cannibalising a car already selling at a premium. None of that is unreasonable.

But the great M cars were never built on reasonable grounds. The M1 wasn’t. The GTR wasn’t. The CSL program itself — spending money to build a more expensive, lighter version of a car most people couldn’t afford — wasn’t business logic. It was the engineers refusing to stop.

The V8 CSL deserved to exist for the same reason the six-cylinder CSL deserved to exist.

First published by https://www.bmwblog.com