BMW Brings Its Electric M Concept to Monterey as the M3 Turns 40

BMW picked a loaded weekend to show M3 people the future. At Monterey Car Week in August, the company rolled out the all-electric BMW M Concept Neue Klasse for its North American debut, right in the middle of a party for the M3's 40th anniversary.

The concept was unveiled the evening of Aug. 13 at BMW's House of M in downtown Monterey, with BMW M CEO Frank van Meel and designer Oliver Heilmer on hand. BMWBLOG reports all six earlier M3 generations, from the E30 through the G80, were parked around it. You could not have drawn the argument any more clearly: here is everything that came before, and here is the electric thing that comes next.

What BMW has actually said

The concept first appeared at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June. BMW says it uses four electric motors, an 800-volt system and a battery with more than 100 kWh of energy content, all managed by an M version of the "Heart of Joy" control unit. It wears Monza Red paint, yellow M lights and a ducktail spoiler, and natural fiber composite stands in for carbon fiber on parts of the body.

What BMW has not given is just as important. There are no power or range figures. The car sat in the Laguna Seca paddock on Friday and Saturday and did not turn a lap, BMWBLOG reports, and then moved to the Concept Lawn at Pebble Beach on Sunday. BMW's Le Mans release does not mention a production M3. BMWBLOG expects the production electric M3 to be unveiled in early 2027, but treat the concept as a preview, not a spec sheet.

The race cars still got to run

While the concept stayed parked, the old guard made noise. BMWBLOG reports four generations of M3 race cars ran at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. BMW's program lists a 1992 E30 M3 DTM, a 1997 E36 M3 GT2, a 2004 E46 M3 GTR and a 2011 E92 M3 GT.

BMW's program also put street cars on the grass at Legends of the Autobahn on Aug. 13, a free show at Pacific Grove Golf Links. The list reads like a poster from a kid's bedroom wall: E30 M3, E36 M3 Lightweight, E46 M3, the E92 M3 Lime Rock Park proof of concept, F82 M4 GTS and G80 M3 CS Handschalter. BMW's numbers remind you how rare some of this stuff is, with 126 E36 Lightweights and about 700 F82 M4 GTS cars.

Good news for manual fans

That last car is the part most M3 owners will care about right now. The M3 CS Handschalter puts 473 hp through a six-speed manual and the rear wheels. BMW says production started in July, deliveries are expected this fall and pricing starts at $107,100 plus $1,350 for destination and handling.

So BMW's message for the anniversary was a little of both. It showed a quad-motor electric sedan as the future of M and also sold a stick-shift, rear-drive M3 at the same time. The Euro scene will keep arguing about which one is the real M3, and BMW seems happy to let that argument run for now.

Monterey also brought the North American debut of the Vision BMW ALPINA design study at The Quail on Aug. 14 and a fourth chapter of the Kith for BMW collaboration. Neither gave up many hard specs. BMW's release stuck to design language for the Alpina, including a coupe roofline and a shark nose.