After an online premiere in late November 2022 followed by a public appearance at the BMW Welt in Munich, the 3.0 CSL made its auto show debut this month in Brussels. Featuring the most powerful inline-six engine ever installed in an M product, the limited-edition coupe shines in a new photo gallery to highlight that retro-flavored body reminiscent of the original E9 3.0 CSL “Batmobile.”
Although BMW never officially revealed the car’s price tag, you are likely looking at the most expensive car ever sold by the Bavarian brand. It reportedly costs €750,000 to make the M4 CSL upon which it’s based seem like a bargain by comparison. With only 50 units planned for production, it’s shaping up to be an instant collector’s item and will be revered decades from now when everything will be electric.
With three pedals and a combustion engine without any form of electrification, it’s an enthusiast’s wet dream. Some would argue the much cheaper M2 G87 fits that bill as well, and they’d be right. However, the 3.0 CSL is more than just looking at the technical specifications and then wondering why it costs so much. A product costs as much as people are willing to pay for it, and BMW has certainly done its research before deciding to reportedly charge three-quarters of a million euros.
But why does it cost so much? Well, the 50 individually numbered cars go through eight assembly cycles at just as many production stations. It takes up to 10 days to complete a single car by a team of 30 experts that have been tasked to build the 3.0 CSL at the external location of the BMW Group Dingolfing plant in Moosthenning, Lower Bavaria. All come painted in Alpine White uni with retro-flavored M graphics.
No fewer than 22 individual components are painted in a special process created just for this car, with most of the exterior being hand-painted. There are as many as 134 paint processes created specifically for the 3.0 CSL, which also gets forged wheels with a gold finish and unique Michelin tires featuring “50” embossed on the sidewall.
It will be interesting to see how many of those 50 owners will actually use the cars unless all of them will spend their lives in a climate-controlled garage before being auctioned off decades from now.
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