BMW CSL Hommage previewed with new bodywork, smaller grille

UPDATE: BMW M teases new CSL Hommage birthday present

We'd all hoped, and really we knew it was coming, but here it is: our first look at the hotly anticipated BMW M CSL Hommage.

(Its real name is still to be confirmed, but this writer is betting on that one.)

Based on the only recently revealed M4 CSL, the new CSL Hommage will debut as both a tribute to the 3.0 CSL shown below, and also as BMW M's 50th birthday gift to itself.

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No technical details have been handed down yet, but as our man Georg Kacher outlines below, we're expecting a huge 447kW – up from the already mighty 405kW offered with the M4 CSL.

On the styling front, the CSL Hommage will wear a tapered grille design harking back to the 2015 CSL Hommage Concept that clearly inspires the new car's overall look. Big circular ducts appear in the bumper as a tribute to the 3.0 CSL.

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The profile of the new CSL looks to add massive upswept guards at each corner, although the images here offer only a hint of that theme.

The rear is more distinctly M4, although with a new bumper and boot lid design, and a full-width wing that reaches down into the new-shape rear quarter panels.

Grille aside, it looks like digital artist Avarvarii got it pretty close with the renders posted to his instagram earlier this month for the UK's Car magazine.

The story to here: All the details

May 11

Some of the best-looking BMWs never made it into production, but they regularly stole the show at the prestigious Villa d´Este Concours d´Elegance down by Lake Como in Northern Italy.

Among the most memorable concepts were the Hommage cars which paid tribute to the M1 (design by Benoit Jacob), the 2002 (design by Alexey Kehza) and the 3.0 CSL (design by Karim Habib).

When they went through the company archives, looking for inspiration for the M division's 50th birthday special, the managing director Frank van Meel and his team did not have to think twice – after all, no other model captures the substance, style and spirit of the brand's go-faster satellite more comprehensively than a re-imagined batmobile.

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The new M4 CSL

Codenamed E9, the CS series was built by Karmann in Osnabrück. The undisputed flagship version was the CSL, which dominated touring car racing in the early to mid 70s. The final evolution series available between 1973-1975 did not only feature lighter windows, doors and bonnet, but also a comprehensive aero kit complete with huge rear wing – which was not even street-legal in Germany.

It was the first production car developed by the Motorsport GmbH masterminded at the time by the former racing driver Jochen Neerpasch, it first introduced the legendary M logo, and it pioneered the trademark red, lilac and blue M design. Although the M1 that followed was a much more extreme and exclusive piece of kit, the batmobile remained the pinnacle of M-ness, which was over time complemented by the first M3, six generations of M5 as well as more recent additions like M2 and M4.

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The original BMW CSL 'Batmobile'

Although the original CSL sat on a shortened 7 Series platform, its spiritual successor expected to launch this month uses the underpinnings of the M4. Not just any M4, but the limited-edition CSL which sheds 100 kilos of weight over the mainstream model.

While the CSL engine develops 410kW instead of 380kW, the Hommage car ups the ante once more to a lofty 447kW. In race trim, the M4 engine can allegedly produce an even meaner 485kW. The final M4 iteration expected early next year is the 395kW M4 CS.

Thanks to its completely redesigned lightweight body and the extra 50 horses, the 0-100km/h acceleration time predicted for the Hommage is down to 3.5sec, a number not even the top-of-the-line 462kW/1015Nm iX can match.

The top speed will be in excess of 300kph, but it may narrowly miss the 200mph mark due to tyre-related speed index issues and the need to trade low drag for increased downforce.

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BMW CSL Hommage Concept from 2015

The yellow 2015 concept was a wild-looking thing sporting a set of prominent rear aerofoils, bossy Terminator wheels and arches, interlacing psychedelic rear light graphics, totally modern headlamps and an early anticipation of the love-it-or-hate-it upright rodent fangs grille that started spreading like an eye disease in 2019.

The interior showed a strange mix of neo-sporty and polarisingly futuristic styling elements. Forgettable details included the full-width wooden dash-board, the yoke-style pseudo steering-wheel, a minimalistic digital display and an artsy-fartsy carbon-fibre rollover protection device installed behind the seats.

We can't wait to check out the visual links between the 2015 one-off and the 2022 few-offs effort, but since the starting point is said to be the most radical evolution of the M4 yet, the wheelbase and the proportions are bound to adhere to the three-box principle.

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For homologation and safety reasons, certain hard points cannot be touched, but the designers are free to change all hang-on panels and body surfaces in a way that does not violate the safety rating and the type approval.

Way back then and now, carbon fibre is the chosen clay substitute applied by the creative team under Adrian van Hooydonk (group), Domagoy Dukec (brand) and Anne Forschner (BMW M).

It seems safe to expect mostly bespoke body panels, more aggressive aerodynamics, certain retro details like splitters and fins, bigger lightweight wheels, different front end graphics and a lower-drag rear end sporting additional air dams, deflectors and diffusors.

Yellow matrix headlights and 3D laser rear lights are also high up on the probability list, but dual side-pipes and extended wings may no longer be legal.

The idea behind the Hommage concept is to create a racing car for the street, a near-supercar which is more emotional to drive, look at and listen to than any other road-legal BMW.

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The maximum torque is expected to climb to 700Nm - that's close to the 750Nm peak the faster-shifting eight-speed ZF box can handle. All-wheel drive would of course help to convert all that grunt into better traction, but there is no way the minimalist M Hommage will waste 80 kilos on a second set of driven wheels.

While the original CSL tipped the scales at a super-slim 1165 kilos, the unofficial target weight for the 2022 version is 1550 kilos.

To reach this goal will require extreme decontenting, extensive material substitution, miniaturisation and breakthrough concepts like single-piece slide and tilt bucket seats, a printed rudimentary back-to-basics instrument panel and a tiny starter battery – to name only a few items.

These changes won't come cheap, because the investment can only be spread over 50 units, and because more often than not fabrication and personalisation require 3D printers. The carbon fibre work has been farmed to a local specialist.

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While the M Hommage is said to sell for a hefty €600,000 (AU$910,000) –with or without tax does not really matter at this level – the CSL can be had for less than a third of this sum. Although the junior batmobile is heavier, not quite as potent and somewhat less dazzling in appearance, it should be a little quieter and ride with a bit more respect.

While the in-dash lap and race timer, the numerous go-pro mounting points and an extensive set-up menu makes the child inside happy, adjustable aero elements, anti-roll bars and shock absorbers are an open invitation to fine-tune the dynamic talents.

Although we have yet to see the final shape of things to come, the M Hommage is definitely not a stealth car on steroids. In view of its price and rarity, it may in fact be the very first ultimate driving machine too precious to be maxxed out in the real world.

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Strategically even more significant that the M Hommage is BMW's plan to form a co-operation with McLaren Cars. The memorandum of understanding signed in Munich in late March details the joint development of a new electric sports car architecture plus related componentry.

Ever since the McLaren F1 powered by that awesome BMW V12 bowed out in 1993, the two companies maintained a relatively close relationship, which only drifted apart briefly when Mercedes launched the SLR McLaren in 2002.

Later that decade, the Brits started introducing a much wider selection of not so different models that confused dealers and buyers alike. Most of them were fine cars, but mushrooming complexity kept tearing new holes in the cash blanket.

Mainly due to the clash of engine configurations – V6 vs straight-six – the proposed co-operation project with BMW came to nothing.

Although we have yet to drive the Artura (editor's note, June 28: We've since driven it. Story here.), the hybrid concept may actually not be green enough to take the brand into a CO2-neutral future. This is why a modular all-electric sports car/supercar/hypercar DNA looks now like the most pragmatic option for McLaren and its partner.

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There are many puzzling elements clouding this complex master plan, but most mysterious is the role of Audi –which suggested, off the record, that a deal with the McLaren Group was as good as done. Except it obviously isn't.

Intelligence gathered in Germany, the UK and Bahrain leaves little doubt that the owners of McLaren have rejected both takeover bids as inadequate. It transpired that Audi has, in a parallel move, also contacted Sauber which is currently racing with Alfa, but suddenly looks like the future front-runner ally of the Germans.

Sauber is currently unable to beat McLaren to the chequered flag, but then the Swiss are not saddled by an ailing car division that needs sorting. Another uncertainty factor is the F1 rulebook for 2026 and beyond, which won't be complete before the end of June. It remains to be seen whether Ferrari and Mercedes will, as previously indicated, support the regulatory changes demanded by the Volkswagen satellites.

While Red Bull has already expressed its willingness to team up with Porsche, no such statement was, to our knowledge, issued by any team with regard to Audi.

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Imagine for a moment you are in charge of the McLaren Group where the F1 division is a solid money maker whereas McLaren Cars is strapped for cash. Would you sell racing to save automotive and risk to walk away empty-handed? Not when an old friend like BMW is offering support with no apparent strings attached.

Between now and 2030, the McLaren product portfolio is unlikely to change dramatically. But the company does need a new V8 which meets EU7 and is strong enough to power future super and ultimate series hybrid models, and it must make sure the Artura can brave the F296 and the next Huracan.

The team from Woking can't walk down electric avenue all by itself. Instead it needs a strong ally to develop cells, e-motors, inverters, electric and electronic architectures, cooling concepts, charging and discharging cycles – as well as high-performance operating algorithms.

BMW is in the position to assist, and in return would benefit from McLaren's strengths like high-end carbon-fibre applications, lightweight design and outstanding vehicle dynamics all the way up to the Senna/P1/Speedtail/Elva segment.

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Since BMW is not interested in returning to F1, the collaboration would be primarily project- and tech-related, not marketing-driven.

Co-funding a new high-performance E/E matrix is small fry for a heavyweight OEM which may, in a second step, give McLaren access to potential extensions of the model range like the meanest ever SUV derived from the MkII XM, a version of the pending one megawatt four-motor e-crackerjack, or the recently completed state-of-the-art 4.4-litre V8.

If this arrangement does materialise, the day-to-day work will almost certainly be masterminded by the M division. Keep thinking along these lines, and the joint powers in charge may, in the not too distant future, surprise us with a zero-emission M1 Hommage coupé – which may be even more retro in character, but positively even more advanced in concept and content.