The Next BMW M3?
 

BMW has given visitors to the Geneva Show an idea of what the next high-performance 3-Series might look like.

The vehicle on display is described simply as the BMW M3 Concept Car. Based on the current 3-Series Coup?©, it's one of the most dramatic-looking machines in the more than 20-year history of the M3.

Apart from the basic body structure, very little of what's visible from the outside has anything to do with the standard Coup?©. Only the headlights, tail lights, doors and boot lid are carried over. New to the M3 are the bonnet with its power bulge and twin air vents, the front and rear bumpers, the spoilers, the big-arch front wings, the side skirts, the rear diffuser and the double-strut door mirrors.

Even the roof is different. It's made of carbonfibre reinforced plastic, which not only reduces weight but crucially does it at the car's highest point - for reasons of weight transfer, that's worth more than any lightening process nearer ground level.

As BMW puts it, the M3 Concept Car "features a high-revving V8 engine that could be used to power a car should it go into production". Well, it seems inconceivable that there won't be a new M3 at some point, and a reduced version of the phenomenal five-litre V10 already fitted to the M5 and M6 would be quite some prospect under the bonnet of such a car.

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Source: [url=http://www.carkeys.co.uk/news/2007/march/08/12642.asp]CARkeys[/url]