50 Years of BMW M Cars
BMW is pulling out all the stops to celebrate 50 years of BMW M cars – the paperwork that created BMW Motorsport GmbH, now known as BMW M GmbH, was signed on May 24, 1972 – and all those years of performance cars have lead to the revival of one of the greatest automotive paints in history: Techno Violet.
BMW announced the production of the M3 Edition 50 Jahre BMW M, a limited production model that will consist of 500 examples built for North America. Techno Violet isn’t the only throwback color to feature on these either – modern versions of five iconic colors will be available, one for each of the five previous generations of the M3.
The E30 M3 will be represented by a non-metallic Cinnabar Red while the E36 color will be a stunning Techno Violet – in our opinion, the most stylish color available on the E36 M3s.
The E46 M3 is easy to think of in a classic blue, hence a special Interlagos Blue will be pulled straight from the E46 color palette. Fire Orange III will be available as a tribute to the limited edition Lime Rock Park E92 M3, with Limerock Grey representing the F80 M3 CS.
Two of the aforementioned colors will only be available on the M3 Edition 50 Jahre BMW M for the 2023 model year: Interlagos Blue and Techno Violet. If you dream of owning a new BMW finished in either of those colors, this may well be your only opportunity.
Aside from the exterior paint, each example of the M3 Edition 50 Jahre BMW M will feature wheels with a matte Orbit Grey finish that is not available on the standard M3. One of the few options on the cars will be the brakes – the standard M Compound brakes will be available with red, blue, or black calipers, while the M Carbon Ceramic brakes with gold calipers will be available for an additional cost.
Other noticeable features on the exterior of the car include a carbon fiber front splitter and quad tailpipes trimmed in carbon fiber and titanium. The trunk lid will sport a special M Performance spoiler, of course built of carbon fiber which will go well with the carbon fiber roof.
The standard BMW roundel will be replaced with BMW Motorsport logos that are reminiscent of the BMW M GmbH logo that was used on their race cars in 1973.
The door sills will feature lettering with the name of the special edition car and an aluminum plaque will be located on the cupholder cover that will emphasize that only 500 examples of this model will be built. A choice of standard M Sport seats or track-ready M Carbon bucket seats will be offered, both of which are to be finished in Black Extended Merino leather.
The M Carbon Ceramic Brakes and M Carbon bucket seats are the only options that will add an additional cost – everything else will be standard on the car, including BMW Laserlight headlights with the M Shadowline treatment among many other features. The cars will feature BMW’s Curved Display that will be powered by the 8th generation iDrive platform. This display combines a 12.3 inch display behind the steering wheel with a 14.9 inch control display to create a single, completely digital high-resolution screen.
2023 BMW M3 Edition 50 Jahre BMW M - Pricing and Availability
Production of the 2023 BMW M3 Edition 50 Jahre BMW M is scheduled to begin in July 2022 and the MSRP will be $95,700 before tax and destination charges. But a small suggestion to BMW – perhaps just refer to the car as the BMW M3 50? Something a little simpler… But we can’t complain too much with a car this cool with Techno Violet paint available!