A fresh report out of Europe suggests the new G80-generation BMW M3 sedan will be offered with a choice of drivetrains as the Munich-based brand attempts to cover all its bases.
According to BMW Blog, the yet-to-be-revealed new M3 – which we expect to arrive only in 2020 – will be offered in both rear-wheel-drive sDrive and all-wheel-drive xDrive forms.
Citing an unnamed source, the report claims the rear-driven M3 will be available with either a manual gearbox or an automatic transmission, while the all-paw will be exclusively automatic.
The sDrive version of the high-performance sedan will apparently also boast a little less power than the all-wheel-drive model. Whether the latter’s likely rear-biased arrangement will be switchable and offer a “2WD” mode like the M5, however, remains to be seen.
Interestingly, BMW Blog furthermore claims the full-fat M3 Competition will be offered from launch in xDrive guise with an automatic cog-swapper.
If this report turns out to be accurate, it’ll be interesting to see whether BMW offers both drivetrains in markets such as ours.
The outgoing F80-generation M3 was recently removed from BMW SA’s official price list, although the new 275 kW M340i xDrive derivative is scheduled to touch down locally in September 2019 (in the meantime, check out local pricing for the initial G20-generation 3 Series models).
