One of the industry’s most popular nameplates – the BMW M3 – has just celebrated its 25th birthday. BMW officially commemorated the M3’s milestone with the Frozen Gray M3 coupe, but for those weren’t lucky enough to land one of the 30 limited edition models, the German automaker has also released a visual timeline of the famed M model.
According to legend, the entire M3 program began after one of BMW CEO Eberhard Kuenheim’s regular visits to Motorsport GmbH. “Mr. Rosche, we need a sporty engine for the 3 Series,” Kuenheim allegedly said. Paul Rosche was the managing director of technical development at Motorsport.
Shortly thereafter, BMW launched its first-ever M3 model. Using a 2.3L four-cylinder engine, the first-generation M3 developed 200 horsepower and was capable of accelerating from 0-62 in about 6.7 seconds. Although the road-going version of the first M3 was limited to 6,750 rpm, its engine was actually design to handle more than 10,000 rpm.
BMW has continued to develop the M3 over the subsequent years, resulting in the E90/92/93 version we have today. The nameplate doesn’t show any signs of slowing down, with plenty of more birthdays ahead.
