Not too long ago, BMW confirmed that it currently had no plans to offer a lightweight CSL variant of either the new BMW M3 or M4 Coupe. Not dissuaded by this fact, automotive design r82 workchop has created the following rendering of how a potential BMW M4 CSL could look.
While recently speaking with Top Gear regarding a CSL version, product manager for BMW’s small to medium cars Matt Collins said in response to the inevitable whining of BMW enthusiasts in the new couple of years, “Couple of years? They’re whining about [a new CSL] now. At the moment though, there are no plans on a CSL. Or anything like a CSL either.”
The main reason why BMW isn’t currently planning CSL versions of either cars is that they’ve already made the two new M-cars as light as possible. “There wasn’t a CSL on the previous generation (the E92 M3), and the way we look at it is like this: the CSL was great because it had this real focus on lightweight engineering. But we’ve already done that with these new cars. We’ve made them as light as possible – they come in under 1500kgs, which for a car like this is incredible.
“Rather than doing a halfway house to begin with,” Matt explains, “and then rolling out a CSL, we thought we’d make the ‘real’ car as light as we possibly could. So we’ve no plans whatsoever to make a lighter, harder version just yet,” he said.
While this may be true, we enthusiasts are always looking for a little bit more. Whether that is a little more power or a little less weight, we want it.
Just a few days ago, an interesting BMW M4 prototype was spied testing complete with different bumpers and a new rear wing indicating that while BMW may not be currently developing an M4 CSL, a more track-focused variant could be on the cards.
[Via rc82 workchop]
