BMW is set to preview either its new M3 or M4 (or perhaps both) in concept form at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance later this week and will follow up with the production versions at the 2014 Detroit Auto Show in January. The cars are likely to hit the market early next spring, as 2014 models.
The M3 will get the F30 3-Series’ body and the M4 will get the F32 4-Series’s svelte coupe shape. However, both cars will have common internals. The highlight will be the raspy engine you hear in the video above, which to these ears sounds a bit like the 3.2-liter straight-six last used in the E46 M3.
The engine is believed to be a 3.0-liter unit codenamed the S55. That makes it sound very much like a high-performance derivative of the N55 found in the latest 335i and 435i models, which makes sense as the BMW M Division is no longer building standalone engines. A pair of turbochargers and tuning of the heads should get performance to the levels demanded by an M car. We’re expecting a power figure somewhere between 400 and 450 horsepower.
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