© Motor1.com UK2021 BMW M4 enters production
The high-performance vehicles have hit the assembly lines at two German plants.
September saw the world unveiling of the highly anticipated 2021 BMW M3 and M4 and now the tasty M&M's have entered production. Although they're mechanically related, the two sports cars are produced at different plants. The more practical of the two models is made in Munich where the M3 is assembled alongside the regular 3 Series Saloon and the 3 Series Touring.
As for the M4, it's being put together at the Dingolfing plant where BMW has also kicked off production of the 4 Series Convertible and the 530e Touring, a plug-in hybrid version of the estate with an electrified inline-six. The two new M models will hit the market from March 2021 and will be eventually joined by the M4 Convertible and the first-ever M3 Touring.
While the M3 Saloon and M4 Coupe will be offered with rear-wheel drive and a six-speed manual gearbox, the aforementioned speedy estate is rumoured to come exclusively with xDrive and an automatic transmission. In other words, the long-roof derivative is expected to be offered only as a Competition model with 503 bhp on tap, an eight-speed 'box, and AWD.
A new M3/M4 is always a big deal, but now more than ever considering BMW is giving the models AWD for the very first time. It follows a trend that started with the X5 M and X6 M more than a decade ago and has since been applied to several other models, including saloons like the M5 and M8 Gran Coupe along with additional SUVs such as the X3 M and X4 M.
Get up to speed with the M dynamic duo:
While the M portfolio has tremendously increased in recent years with an SUV focus, models like the M3 and M4 that are part of the M backbone. A new version of what is arguably the purest M car - the M2 - should arrive in the next couple of years. There have been rumours of a flagship M supercar, but it looks like it's not happening as the bigger fish to fry seems to be an X8 M.
Source: BMW