BMW kicked off the celebrations for the M division’s 50th anniversary even before the start of the new year. Last November, the company announced M / M Sport Package cars sold in 2022 would get retro-flavored badges. This weekend at Daytona, the milestone will be highlighted with iconic cars including the 1980 M1 and 1975 3.0 CSL. The parade of vintage and modern M cars will take place right before the start of the race and will encompass a few other heavy hitters. BMW will have the 2015 Z4 GTLM and 2019 M8 GTE up on display as well, but we’re fairly sure most eyes will be on the legendary M1. It will be interesting to see whether the anniversary emblems will be shown to the public for the first time.
The Rolex 24 At Daytona will be important for another reason as the M4 GT3 will get its IMSA race debut. Before that happens, four M4 GT4s will compete on Friday from 19:35 CET in the four-hour BMW M Endurance Challenge. The big event starts Saturday at 19:40 CET and will have three GT3s on the track for the endurance race.
BMW has big plans for 2022 to properly celebrate half a century of M. There’s no spiritual M1 successor on the way, though. Several road cars will debut in the coming months, including the first-ever M3 Touring. In addition, the Coupe Sport Lightweight (CSL) will return for a stripped-down, two-seat M4 Coupe. The next-generation M2 Coupe is also arriving this year, along with the production-ready XM towards the end of it.
A New Bespoke M Car Is Coming In 2022
The plug-in hybrid SUV with around 750 horsepower is the second dedicated M model ever after the M1. Some had hoped to see a proper two-door sports car, maybe molded after the Vision M Next concept, but that doesn’t seem to be on the agenda. Nevertheless, with so many M products on the way, the future looks bright for performance BMWs.
[Source: BMW]
