BMW's High Tech S58

Our first glimpse of the twin-turbocharged straight-six set to power the next M3 and M4

- Chris Thompson

BMW’S INLINE SIX-CYLINDER engines have earned the Bavarian marque a place as one of the greats when it comes to powerplants. The M3 has, for three of its five generations, been the flagship of BMW’s inline six-cylinder performance engines, and it seems the next engine is going to continue that lineage in a rather spectacular fashion. A 375kW-plus, 7200rpm fashion.

But the engine set to power the G20 M3 (and its eventual M4 sibling) once it’s revealed has already been dropped into another model. It’s still one of M’s creations, but it’s not a hardcore sports car as would traditionally debut a new high-powered M motor. It’s an SUV. Specifically, it’s two variations of the ‘same’ SUV platform, BMW’s X3 M and X4 M.