M3 sedan a must-have

Prompted by strong sales of the M3 Coupe in the first few months since its release, BMW Australia says it is working hard to bring the sedan version of the iconic model to local showrooms.

Spokesperson for BMW Australia, Toni Andreevski, said the company was "getting closer to finalising the business case for the M3 sedan" at this week's launch of the 135i Coupe Sport model.

A four-door M3 would be the right weapon to take on the recently released Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (more here). However, the M3 sedan will have to be well-priced to match the bang-for-buck allure of the Benz, priced around $140K.

Andreevski suggests "coupes are generally more expensive", however, it's likely BMW's bean counters will have sized-up the C63's aggressive pricing as part of the M3 sedan's "business case".

According to BMW, sales of the new E92 M3 Coupe have doubled those made by the E46 model in the first six months since release. The previous, 3.2-litre six-cylinder equipped M3 sold 132 models while the new V8-powered M3 has registered 263 sales.

"It seems the Australian love affair with V8 engines is pumping strongly," says Tom Noble, BMW's general manager of marketing.

"Undeniably the new M3 is the most popular new M car we have ever launched in Australia," says Noble.

He says that "while we are still working on the business case for introducing the sedan into Australia", M3 shoppers could expect the convertible model later this year and the new M Double-clutch transmission (more here) by mid year.

A limited supply of M3 Coupes fitted with the new gearbox will be available from June.

The M3 sedan reflects BMW's continuing optimisation of its range for the Australian market. Recently, the importer discontinued shipping manual variants of the 320i and 323i, in line with local market demand. To read more about that, click here.

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