BMW is making only 50 units of the 3.0 CSL, but this isn’t one of them. What we mean by that is we’re looking at the company’s own prototype rather than a car built for a customer. The 00/50 vehicle has been publicly displayed every now and then since its official debut in November 2022, and its most recent pitstop was at a dealer in Luxembourg. If this video is any indication, it drew a crowd on the showroom floor.
The subsequent 50 cars heading to clients will represent BMW’s most expensive new model ever. As reported earlier this week, the only unit reserved for Spain will be sold through a private auction at a starting bid of €800,000. This modern-day equivalent of the iconic E9 “Batmobile” is exclusively offered in Alpine White uni with a special livery featuring the three famous M colors.
BMW has said it will need about three months to complete the production run, with each of the 50 cars to have hand-painted carbon exterior parts. In addition, all carbon components are going to be mostly made by hand. Each vehicle will go through eight assembly cycles at eight production stations for a process bound to take no fewer than 10 days.
This is BMW’s most powerful production car with an inline-six engine as the “S58” has been dialed to 560 hp or an extra 10 hp compared to the M3 CS and M4 CSL. Unlike those two automatic models, the 3.0 CSL uses a six-speed manual gearbox, which has prompted the engineers to lower torque by 100 Nm to 550 Nm to preserve reliability. Much like the M4 CSL, it’s available only with rear-wheel drive and two seats while weighing just about the same.
It’ll be interesting to see how history will treat the 3.0 CSL considering many have rushed to criticize the car for being an M4 CSL with a body kit, a clutch pedal, and a bit more horsepower. One thing is certain – this will be a collector’s item, especially since only 50 will be made as opposed to the M4 CSL’s far more generous production run of 1,000 units.
