With rumours of the first-ever all-wheel drive M3 being on the cards, there has been talk of a M3 Touring production car on the internet for about a year now.
The only M3 wagon that BMW has officially built was this example that was based on the iconic E46 M3 back in 2000. Unfortunately, it was only built for promotional purposes, and after it served this purpose, it was used for various in-house chores.
Ever since the German performance marque teased us with this wagon almost two decades ago, fans have been hoping for it to become a reality — but are going to be disappointed.
When talking to BMW M boss Marcus Flasch about future M cars, Car magazine asked about the possibility of the estate, and his response wasn't promising.
"Touring estates are not part of our M plan. If I asked customers in Austria, Switzerland or Germany they would probably give it the thumbs-up, but we are a global company and we have so many things to deal with on the powertrain side that we don’t go into products like this. This is what the SUVs are for."
The fact that Flasch is aware of a certain demand for the wagon is heart-breaking, but at the end of the day, the brand has to make money in order to stay afloat, and SUVs are where the money is.
Just recently, the M division expanded the ever-growing list of performance SUVs by adding the X3 M and the X4 M. These will join the much larger X5 M and X6 M in the line-up.
If you are in the market for a BMW-built performance wagon, you'll have to settle for the larger M5 touring. Less than 900 E34s were built, and just a nudge over 1000 examples of the V10-equipped E61 were produced, so chances of doing that are still quite small.
Arguably the greatest BMW wagon of all is the E34 M5 that was used to test the mighty V12 from the iconic McLaren F1, but you'll probably win Lotto before you get your hands on that bad boy.