Now that the all-new BMW 3 Series sedan has made its debut appearance, it’ll soon be time for the wagon. If reports prove accurate, the G20 generation 3 Series Wagon (codenamed G21), also called an estate or Touring, will debut next March at Geneva. That’s not a particularly big surprise, but a new report coming from Autocar is far more interesting.
BMW is reportedly considering an M3 Wagon in order to do battle with the Audi RS4 Avant and Mercedes-AMG C63 Estate. If Munich goes ahead with the plan, it would be the first-ever M3 wagon. We’re so down for that. Aside from having a powerful wagon to combat its two main German rivals, BMW supposedly sees a solid business case to green light the project.
Because a regular non-M 3 Series wagon has already been completed and the next-generation M3’s (and M4) engine and other relevant details have already been decided and sorted, the development costs for an M3 wagon would be relatively low. Another factor working in the M3 wagon’s favor is that there won’t be (thank gosh!) a new 3 Series GT. Slow sales are what killed it.
And speaking of sales, would there even be enough interest in the US for an M3 wagon? Probably not. Wagons, in general, have long fallen out of favor with the American car-buying public. They all want crossovers and, very conveniently enough, BMW has several to choose from. At the moment, you can still buy the outgoing generation 3 Series Sports Wagon in the US which comes powered by a turbocharged inline-four with 248 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque.
The closest thing to an M3 wagon America will likely receive will be the X3 M. Remember, neither the Audi RS4 Avant nor the AMG C63 Wagon are sold in the US, so it would make no sense for BMW either. As of right now, BMW has not officially confirmed plans for an M3 wagon, but again, the business case does make sense this time around, at least for Europe. Another piece of forbidden fruit for Americans is sounding very likely.
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