SPYSHOTS: G81 BMW M3 Touring seen on road trials

The current-generation BMW M3 and M4 family is growing, with the G83 M4 Convertible having just made its debut. Historically, that would be the lot, with sedan, coupe and convertible bodystyles covered, though this time around there will be one more – the G81 M3 Touring. Now, the long-roofed M3 has been sighted in Munich for more road testing.

This shadowy, officially released teaser was followed shortly thereafter by an Instagram video clip, where a camouflaged development unit was recorded entering BMW M premises. A fleeting cameo appearance in the BMW M Town short film followed, and then in March a development car was sighted running cold-weather tests. Now, the long-roofed M3 has been sighted in Munich.

As before, the all-but-undisguised external form of the M3 Touring reveals a front end that is essentially identical to its sedan, coupe and convertible siblings. Its front end is just about identical to that of the M3 Sedan up to its A-pillars, which on the M3 Touring then continues to show its long-roofed form with roof rails that are de rigeur of load-lugging bodystyles.

Deeper side skirts and wider wheel arches house the M car’s larger rolling stock and wider tracks. The rear end, though still somewhat concealed on this development car, can be expected to wear a lower bumper and diffuser treatment as seen in the M Town cameo, which itself is modelled after the M3 Sedan’s rear end with larger quad exhausts and chunky diffuser in an aggressive rear bumper.

Powertrain for the upcoming M3 Touring is expected to be the potent of the currently available specification for the M3/M4 family, which is the 3.0 litre turbocharged inline-six in Competition guise with 510 PS and 650 Nm of torque. An earlier report from last October indicated that this is the sole version the M3 Touring will get, attributed to station wagon customers’ preference for AWD for year-round traction in winter conditions.

The Touring was previously said be on a longer timeline as it is set for a two-year development process, BMW sources said last year. That said, the vehicle here appears to be wearing bodywork that is close to being production-ready. For now, the aforementioned two-year development timeline stated last year for the G81 BMW M3 Touring places a potential debut sometime around 2022.