BMW M2 CSL coming

A stripped-down hardcore BMW M2 CSL is coming, with the brand’s local boss letting slip about plans to close the $50,000 divide between M2 and M4 coupes.

Speaking at the local media launch of the M3 and M4 Competition this week, BMW Australia managing director Marc-Heinrich Werner said that a forthcoming Coupe Sport Lightweight (CSL) version of the baby M-car “looks fantastic.”

“As far as the M2 CSL is concerned which you might have seen some rumours out in the media at the moment, I cannot comment on it at all but it looks fantastic,” he said, before teasing of a future announcement. “There is more to come.”

Previously BMW M would release special versions of production models around four years into a lifecycle, with the 2000 E46 M3 being followed by the 2004 CSL and the 2007 E92 M3 followed by the 2011 M3 Competition.

However, Werner revealed that the M division was under pressure to close the time lag between production models and special editions. This week’s release of the M3 and M4 Competition come exactly two years after the F80/F82/F83 generation of performance sedan, coupe and convertible were unveiled.

“I would agree with that,” he said of the need for a reduced timeframe to special editions.

““BMW M customers … they always look out for something new. From a product lifecycle impulse point of view you have to offer something new on a regular basis and that’s what we are doing with the Competition.”

It bodes well for an M2 special. If BMW follows the C, S and L mantra expect the compact coupe to shed some of its 1495kg heft at the very least. Expect grunt to come in for some attention too, with the new M140i's B58 engine matching the M2's 500Nm overboost figure.

Either way, with the current M2 claiming a 4.3-second 0-100km/h and the M3 claiming a 4.1sec time, there isn’t much room for little brother to move before it fights with big brother, particularly when up to $50K exists between them.

Either way, a special M2 is coming as BMW’s M division sets its sights on huge growth locally and abroad. Last year’s 1050-unit M-car volume is expected to increase by 33 per cent this year to around 1500 sales, including approximately 1000 M3 and M4 models and all 400 M2 models already sold. The wait for the latter now extends to 2017.