Update: A BMW North America spokesperson confirmed to Road & Track via email the company has no plans to import the M3 Touring into the U.S.
Right now, there’s no bigger news in the world of Bimmer-fans than the news that a BMW M3 Touring will finally grace public roads. For decades, BMW fans have been dreaming and begging for an M3 Touring, only to have their favorite Bavarian brand shoot down those dreams. However, the time has finally come and an M3 Touring will finally, and officially, be made. However, there’s really only one more question and it comes from North American BMW enthusiasts — will it be coming here?
To be honest, the answer is probably not a good one for American enthusiasts to hear. The deck is actually stacked against the BMW M3 Touring in America, as there are more reasons not to sell it here than there are reasons to sell it here.
Traditionally, BMW likes to save its best models for Europe, leaving us ‘Mericans in the dark (I’m still bitter about not getting the BMW M140i hatchback here in the ‘States). So it’s not likely that BMW brings the M3 Touring across the ocean. BMW no longer sells any wagons in the ‘States, simply because there’s not a big enough market for them here. Cars like the 3 Series and 5 Series Touring, as excellent as they are, don’t make it to our shores, so it’s unlikely the M3 will.
Especially when you consider the fact that neither of its main competitors are sold in North America. The Audi RS4 Avant and Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate will stay east of the Atlantic for the foreseeable future. Without any direct competition, it might seem like a dead segment in North America and that will scare BMW off.
There’s also an issue of cost. Homologating the car for both American and Canadian governments costs money and it’s likely money BMW has no interest in spending at the moment. Especially for a low-volume car. North America just isn’t a huge market for wagons, especially expensive fast ones.
Exacerbating that is the fact that the BMW M3 Touring likely won’t hit the road until 2023, which will be right around the car’s mid-cycle LCI refresh and surprisingly close to the end of the G80 M3’s life-cycle, which ends in 2025. So BMW likely won’t see the value in homologating the car for just a couple of years of potentially mild sales success.
Having said that, there actually might just be a reason to sell the M3 Touring here after all. It’s a big reach but it must be mentioned. One of BMW’s biggest rivals, and Bavarian neighbor, Audi actually sells a high-performance wagon in the ‘States and just put it on sale here for the first time ever — the Audi RS6 Avant.
That seemed like an odd move at the time, when you consider that few Americans will ever buy a six-figure performance wagon. However, it’s a brand-builder for Audi, as it proves to enthusiasts that the brand is capable of making cool and interesting performance cars.
BMW could look at the M3 Touring in a similar manner. Because fans have been wanting an M3 wagon for so long, actually providing the option would go a long way to making the brand more desirable among car enthusiasts in general. It would also show that BMW is listening to its customers and giving them something they truly want. Sure, it’d probably lose BMW some money but that might be worth it in the long run, due to the brand prestige it would earn.
Though, the likeliness of America getting an M3 Touring is slim-to-none. We can’t say for sure but we’d be willing to bet on the fact that it doesn’t end up coming here. That’s just the BMW way, unfortunately. So you know what that means, BMW fans, we’re gonna have to book a trip to Germany come 2023.
