In just over two months from now, BMW will pull the wraps off its new M3 Sedan and M4 Coupe, and to tide us over until then the company has released some new teaser images, while also revealing how much more powerful they will be.
Which is quite a lot, in fact.
The upgraded three-litre straight-six turbopetrol will produce 375kW in the Competition version, which is a good 44kW more than its predecessor managed, while the ‘regular’ M3 and M4 models will be tuned to 353kW, which is a 36kW improvement. Maximum torque is listed at 650Nm, which is a good 100Nm more than before.
And there’s good news for purists who prefer to swop their own cogs as manual transmission is making a comeback. The 353kW models will be paired exclusively with this gearbox. The competition models, meanwhile, will ship with BMW’s 8-speed M Steptronic transmission as standard.
Interestingly, both variants will be rear-wheel driven, but BMW has confirmed that the Competition models will, at a later stage, be offered with the long-rumoured M xDrive all-wheel-drive option - likely with a RWD drift mode too.
BMW M4 Coupe.
As before, the M3 and M4 will have an M-specific chassis set-up and BMW is promising “comprehensive innovations” in the areas of drive, wheel suspension, springs, shocks and braking technology.
The vehicles are currently undergoing final testing on numerous circuits, including the Sachsenring in Germany, as well as facilities in Arjeplog, Sweden, and Miramas, Southern France.
BMW M3 Sedan.
“Traditionally, the Nordschleife of the Nürburgring sets the yardstick for the perfect interaction between drive and suspension technology in every situation,” BMW said.
“However, because the performance characteristics of a BMW M automobile have to convince not only there but also on the most varied racetrack profiles, the test engineers always expand the test programme to include further circuits such as the current test drives with camouflaged prototypes of the new BMW M3 Sedan and new BMW M4 Coupé at the Sachsenring.”
BMW M4 Coupe.
The new BMW M3 and M4 will be revealed in mid-September.
This article originally appeared on IOL Motoring