Production of the F80-generation BMW M3 – which quietly left the Bavarian brand’s South African line-up in November 2018 – has, of course, ended. But how many examples of the performance sedan were built since its launch in 2014?
Well, thanks to a studious member of BimmerPost who recently published some interesting production data, we now know some 34 677 units of the F80-generation model were assembled (compared with just 9 674 examples of the preceding E90-generation model), with almost half built for the United States.
Indeed, 16 057 examples made it to the US, while Canada accounted for 1 104 units. The remaining units were split between production for other left-hand-drive markets (8 771) and right-hand-drive countries (8 745) such as SA.
Of the global total, some 29 251 units were fitted with dual-clutch transmissions, while 5 426 examples were specified in six-speed manual guise. In the end, 1 263 units of the F80-generation M3 CS were built, while as many as 14 969 examples (of the 25 820 LCI models built) were upgraded with the Competition Package.
Of the standard colours, the most popular hue globally was Black Sapphire Metallic (6 111), followed by Alpine White (4 950), Mineral Grey Metallic (4 576) and Mineral White Metallic (4 093). And the least popular? Well, that’d be Pyrite Brown Metallic (just nine examples were produced), followed by Moon Stone Metallic (20) and Smoked Topaz Metallic (58). For the record, some 3 421 units were specified in a “special colour”.
So, when can we expect the new M3? Well, rumour has it the hottest version of the G20-generation 3 Series range will arrive only in 2020…
