Best BMW M Cars That Never Were

Owning a BMW M car is the aspiration of many thanks to the finely-tuned engines, race car styling and the general aura around the red and blue M badge that just makes you instantly cooler.

As much as we love a good M3 or M4, there are a few M cars that make the standard ones look boring. Here are some bold BMW M cars that never made it to mainstream markets, probably because they were just too weird…

BMW’s M3 pickup trucks

Not too long ago in 2011, BMW offered their very own April fools joke in the form of the M3 pickup. However, this little motor is not to be laughed at. Packed with the same 4.0-litre V8 engine that’s found in the other M3s, this little pickup has over 400 horsepower and can reach speeds of around 186 mph.

Not only is this thing fast, it’s also convertible! Well, you can remove the roof panel. But alas, the M3 pickup never made it to production and was nothing more than an expensive bit of fun for the engineers at BMW as well as a functional utility vehicle to be used on their factory grounds.

But it doesn’t end there. If you’re a keen BMW enthusiast, you may know that they already made an M3 pickup in the past to be used as a parts hauler for their M division premises. This was the 1986 BMW M3 pickup which can be seen below.

The Ur-Roadster

One of the first designs to come out of the BMW M division was what we see on this crazy-looking machine. At the time, the M division of BMW had just got their own separate design department and so one of their first tasks was to design a sporty roadster. So, the got busy and began brainstorming ideas and somehow, ended up with this beady-eyed sports car.

As you can probably guess from the similarities, the 1990 Ur-Roadster was the concept car that somewhat paved the way to the Z3, the capable roadster that we all know and love today. It sure does look odd, but it’s like no other BMW we’ve ever seen and it tells a story of the early days of BMW M’s design team.

E36 M3 Compact

Built in celebration of Auto Motor und Sport (AMS) magazine’s 50th birthday, the E36 M3 compact was a one-of-a-kind unavailable to the public. The hatchback was powered by the S50 3.2 L European engine and also featured M3-spec brakes, M tuned suspension and 17 inch double spoke M alloys.

AMS magazine wrote a piece on the car in 1996, going over all of its cool features such as M-Technic aero package, M wing mirrors, clear indicator lenses and sporty interior. According to the magazine, the hot hatch was capable of 0-62 mph in a respectable 5.3 seconds.

Like What You’ve Read?

For more articles like this, receive our weekly e-newsletter, including partner deals and all things motoring, register your email below.

Please note: You cannot subscribe to Smart-Motoring unless you put a tick in the checkbox below to indicate have read and agreed to our privacy policy.