If you're not in the know, BMW guys can drive you nuts. They talk about generations of 3 Series and M3 with alphanumerics such as E30, E36, E46, and E92 like everyone knows what they heck they mean.

Thanks to BMW's latest video, the uninitiated can get a better grasp on the cars behind those alphanumerics. The video above is the first installment in what is promised to be a series on the five generations of M3s. 

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There are some interesting tidbits here. For instance, the BMW officials interviewed claim that the first M3 was developed to be a race car and 5,000 road cars were needed for homologation. You'll also learn that horsepower started at 195 and topped out at 238. But we don't want to give away too many spoilers. We'll leave the rest up to you.

Watch this video, and you'll certainly get a better appreciation for the first-generation M3 and, by extrapolation, the generations that followed. You'll also finally understand that the E30 cars ran from 1985 to 1991. Now, what years were represented by M36 again?

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