[solstice]

If I recall correctly this is the 1st time in M3 history the engine is off-the-shelf. An engine fully tested and in production. The transmission and drive-line has been in production quite a while on the M5 as well. This should logically allow for a shorter time to market than prior generations should BMW want.

Personally I don’t think the M3 has been held back to wait for the M4 in the past since it make no business sense. M3 buyers are picky, they want 4 doors and they want M3 track ability, I.e. when the M3 is off the market BMW lose or delay sales which is far worse than to reveal the front of the coupe pre-maturely. I simply believe the M3 weren’t ready before the M4 in the case of the F80 due to all new parts and technology/engineering to be tuned to be M3 worthy in that car ( S55, FI, EPS etc. ). A lot of development and testing required.

This time it seems the M3 is close to being ready well in advance of the M4 with test runs on the production line of the complete product happening now.

To me it is very strange if we will see a joint launch.