MUNICH, GERMANY – To celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary of its performance and motorsport division, BMW has been releasing a series of limited and special edition models throughout 2022. And the cream of the crop in terms of these limited releases is coming in the form of a revival to the iconic BWM brand: the new, very powerful – and very expensive – 2024 BMW 3.0 CSL.
Available in Coupe, Sport, and Lightweight, the new CSL is clearly modeled after the classic “Batmobile” road and race car from five decades ago. The original CSL was a high-powered vehicle that participated in – and won – a number of touring car competitions throughout the 1970s, and while it’s original 206 horsepower engine may seem somewhat tame by today’s standards, its upcoming successor does a more than adequate job of upping the ante in terms of what’s under the hood.
According to BMW, the 2024 CSL features the most powerful I-6 engine the company has ever engineered for road use, sourced from the 2022 BMW DTM racing car’s straight-six engine; it boasts 560 horsepower and 405 lb-ft of torque, with all of that power being transported to the vehicle’s rear axle via a six-speed manual transmission with optional shift assist.
The new CSL gets a locking active M differential, double-joint spring strut front axle and five-link rear axle active suspension, 10-level traction control, and M carbon ceramic brakes. The overall body mirrors the original CSL’s lightweight body design, featuring carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) parts on “virtually all bodywork sections,” according to BMW.
There will only be 50 of the 2024 CSLs produced over the course of three months, with a special custom process for the paint job and numerous hand-made components. And all of that power and style won’t come cheap- while the specific price has yet to be revealed, reports indicate that BMW could be asking for as much as $780,000 when the CSL hits retail in Europe in late 2023.
Christopher Boyle is an investigative journalist, videographer, reporter and writer for SEARCHEN NETWORKS® as well as other independent news and media organizations in the United States. Christopher works on a wide variety of topics and fields, has been featured in print and online in a variety of publications, from local to national, and helps keep a keen-eye on what’s happening in the automotive world for Auto Buyers Market.