The M Division has in recent years expanded their range of high performance variants of stock BMW vehicles by a lot. Where previously we had only a few M cars, a prospective buyer in today’s marketplace has a bevy of hard decisions.
There’s the M2, the siblings M3 and M4, the M5, an upcoming M8, a soon-to-be-discontinued M6 and a seemingly endless supply of sub-M cars such as the M550i and M140i*. That list, extended though it may be, will apparently be including an old favourite: the CSL. That is, should a report by Road & Track prove accurate.
The automaker has toyed with the idea of reintroducing the moniker quite recently as well, debuting the M4 CS just a few months ago as a halfway house between the standard M4 with Competition Pack and the limited run track-focused M4 GTS. And that announcement got our hopes up, along with the rest of the enthusiast community, that a full-blown return to the CSL would be imminent.
Speaking with BMW’s current head of the M Division, Frank van Meel, R&T reveals that the marque intends to retire the short-lived (E90, F82) GTS designation, neatening the line-up’s increasingly confusing naming scheme. After all, ‘GTS’ didn’t quite fit within the BMW universe in the first place, and frankly did not do justice at representing nature of the cars they were attached to.
For the uninitiated, the CSL name stood for Coupe Sport Lightweight and was previously seen on the E46 M3 having emerged on a special homologation run for E9 in order to qualify for the European Touring Car Championship. The E46 car was a stripped-out and up-tuned version of the standard M3, with much less weight, fewer assists, and a more powerful naturally-aspirated straight-six engine. It also featured a wider track, revised suspension, and only minor aerodynamic tweaks (unlike the GTS variants of today).
On that final point, since Van Meel said that the next CSL will essentially be a name change to take over from where the GTS would leave off, there will still be quite a dissonance between CSL formula most of us have come to be familiar with.
Neither the 3.0L CSL nor the E46 M3 CSL were not meant for track use in the same vein as the M4 GTS - they were street cars, through and through. Unfortunately, the next BMW to wear the CSL badge might be all about big aero, ultimate downforce, and lap times.
Van Meel confirms this, saying: "CSL [will be] the top-of-the-line track tool, made on the track for the track, just with a number plate.” By contrast, the CS-branded cars will be more analogous to that E46, a lighter, sharper, more powerful version of a certain M car that does without all the frivolous aero and retains some emphasis on comfort.
There’s no indication yet when the next CSL will debut, though it should be within shooting distance of the next generation M4 as a successor to the present M4 GTS. Hopefully, it won’t be limited to 700 units like the last time. This possible CSL flagship could become a permanent fixture on the M hierarchy, with future customers being able to choose from, for example, the standard M4, M4 Competition Pack, M4 CS, and M4 CSL.
With enough fingers crossed, maybe we’ll get an M5 CSL and maybe even a CSL version of the upcoming M8.
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