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BMW has officially started the countdown to the world premiere of the last M car to ditch electrification. Indeed, the M2 G87 will go down in history as the last ICE model to carry the “world’s most powerful letter”. The German premium brand has been teasing the new M2 for a while and now we’re told that the pack will be releasing in October. The sport coupe is slated to hit the market in April 2023.
We had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a prototype M2 earlier this year to sample the tail-happy engine. Indeed, BMW plans to sell its smallest M car exclusively with a rear-wheel drive layout, which will receive engine power via a standard six-speed manual transmission or an optional eight-speed M Steptronic automatic gearbox.
As for the engine, the S58 will be derived from the M4, but don’t expect the same level of power as that would allow the next generation M2 to deprive the larger M cars of sales. The press release doesn’t go into details about the output, but company officials have told us that the twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six will be cranked up to somewhere in the 450 hp region.
BMW says the revamped M2 will provide almost the same level of performance as the old M2 CS. It will inherit the braking system from the M4 and will be offered with a carbon fiber roof to reduce weight. For an additional fee, the carbon fiber bucket seats at the front will enhance the sporty atmosphere in the cabin. By the way, the interior will house the instrument cluster and touchscreen in the same curved glass piece as on all BMWs that have the iDrive 8.
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During our time with the prototype, we found the M2 to have the same adaptive dampers as well as 275/35/19 front and 285/30/20 rear tires as the M4. Compared to the lower version of the 2 Series Coupe, the front and rear tracks have been widened by 2.1 inches (5.3 centimeters). Once the colorful M livery is removed, the new M2 will look quite aggressive and a noticeable improvement over the M240i.
October is still a long way off, so we feel like BMW has plenty of teasers to build on the hype around its M+ICE formula epilogue.
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