BMW M3 Touring continues testing ahead of debut

• First-ever M3 Touring
• Expected to debut next year as MY2022

In August, BMW officially announced that they are working on an M3 Touring. For the uninitiated, BMW M3 – in its four decades of existence – was available in numerous body styles including coupe, sedan, convertible, and also properly-tuned race cars. But never was there an M3 Touring (estate) before. So ahead of the global debut of the first-ever M3 Touring, the high-performance station wagon is busy doing test runs near the carmaker’s headquarters in Germany. 

We expected the M3 Touring to debut alongside the new-gen G80 M3 and its two-door version, the M4. But BMW decided to withhold the long roof version for a bit longer. As you can see in the images here, there’s nothing out of place in the test mule from what we already know about the M3 Touring. Upfront will be BMW’s new vertical grille with sharper pair of headlamps. On the side, there’s flared wheel arches and sportier wheels. And the rear gets the similar tail light setup seen on the standard 3 Series station wagon along with quad-exhausts for the M demeanour. Although the slightly bulbous rear bumper does look out of proportions on the prototype. We hope that will make way for a diffuser-integrated bumper on the production-model. 

Under the hood would be the same twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six from the recently revealed M3 and M4. It produces 473bhp and 550Nm in the ‘standard’ guise while the Competition blows out over 503bhp and 650Nm. The xDrive AWD system should also be offered with the Touring along with the standard RWD configuration. 

When it goes on sale, the M3 Touring will lock horns with the likes of Audi RS6 Avant and Mercedes-AMG E63 Estate. We don’t expect the station-wagon version of the M3 to be introduced in India, but we are surely awaiting the Indian debut of the M3 sedan and M4 Coupe.