How far off is the release of the next BMW M3 in the USA?

I ws reading through our blogs and it looks like we have an answer directly from the source at BMW.

Comments below:

I was at a local BMW Club meeting last week where Larry Koch (Current BMW M Brand Manager) was the guest speaker. He said that the anyone interested in the E90 M3 should go ahead and lease the current E46 M3 for 30 months as that lease would be up just when the E90 M3 is available. So sorry to anyone expecting the next M3 in 1 year or less.

-Speed_Racer_M3

DiamondJim - 11/12/2005 12:55:20 AM

+1 Boost

r u serious! over 2 years for the next M3??! unacceptable! get your butts working overtime and unleash that beast!

Chip - 11/12/2005 3:46:01 AM

+1 Boost

Theres NO WAY the next M3 isnt coming until 2008 as a 2009 model !!!

With the current 2006 M3 out now, and with Autospies forcasting more than 2 1/2 years, this would mean a huge handicap that holds back BMW big time. THIS WONT HAPPEN.

As the 2007 X5 gets prepped for arrival in late 2006, and the 3-series coupe arrives sometime in 2006 as well, all BMW models will officially be Bangled.

Do you honestly think that BMW is going to hold on to the E46 platform for that long? NO

With Audi releasing the RS4 and Mercedes prepping the C63, 2008 is WAY WAY too long for BMW to hold out.

This company IS smarter than that.

IT WILL BE HERE SOONER

Matthew1 - 11/18/2005 1:06:26 AM

+1 Boost

...not a de-tuned V10.

Or was that a joke?

SpeedRacerM3Sedan - 11/18/2005 10:12:41 AM

+1 Boost

Wow there are a lot of skeptics out there. I am most definitely not a salesman.....just a Chemical Engineer who has a 97 M3 Sedan and is eagerly awaiting an E90 version. The meeting with Larry Kock happened on November 6th and it was for the Lone Star Chapter (Dallas) of the BMW Car Club of America. You can see the meeting on our calendar (www.lscbmwcca.org) I'll admit, Larry may want to move the current generation of M3 out of dealerships, but he made other points as well. If you look at the E46 generation, the sedan was out 1 year before the coupe, and the M3 followed 1 more year after that (sedan '99, coupe '00, M3 Coupe '01). If the E90 sedan started arriving in the US in ~August '05, and BMW sticks to that normal product development cycle, then an E90 M3 would arrive late summer to fall '07, so.....you probably won't see them for another 2 years. I know some of you are impatient, and believe me so am I.....my 97 M3 is starting to get a little old/tired.....it's been at way to many auto-x and track days.