BMW has had another image leak, this time the upcoming M3 CS ahead of its official debut.
Images of the new BMW M3 CS have appeared on Bimmerpost forums before the car’s official debut at this year’s 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28. The event will also stage the competition debut of BMW’s M Hybrid V8 race car in the 2023 World Endurance Championship.
The images clearly show the new model in Signal Green, and paint options have been said to include Black Sapphire Metallic, Brooklyn Metallic, and Frozen White. Meanwhile, the wheels can be finished in black or bronze metallic, and there’s the option for carbon brakes over steel (according to US orders).
CS stands for ‘Competition Sport’ in BMW-speak and as with the previous F80-generation M3 CS, the new model will bring a few performance and visual tweaks to stand out from the existing M3 Competition model.
The old M3 CS launched in 2018 as a special run-out version, adding an extra 7kW and 50Nm of torque, more extensive use of carbon fibre, a tweaked damping setup and a much higher price tag. We expect the new CS to follow a similar brief when it hits the road later this year.
The M3 CS borrows some styling elements from the new M4 CSL, with the same kidney grille and lower air intake design and a more aggressive splitter. Unlike the M4 CSL there’s no ducktail bootlid spoiler at the rear however there is a smaller lip spoiler. The headlights have a yellow hue to them, just like the M5 CS’s units.
The interior also contains many upgrades over standard for the higher-performance CS.
BMW has shown us that it can extract 405kW and 600Nm of torque from the M3’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo straight-six in the M4 CSL and we expect the CS to make use of this same tune. A remap of the M3’s eight-speed automatic transmission will be in order and standard-fit carbon ceramic brakes should be expected.
The CS name isn’t as iconic as the CSL in BMW parlance so we don’t think it’ll reach the heady heights of the M4 CSL’s price tag, but it’ll certainly be a lot more than the M3 Competition’s starting price.
