Someone in Munich might be in a lot of trouble. Some photos were recently leaked to Bimmerpost, showing off what is allegedly the upcoming all-electric BMW M3, codenamed “ZA0.” BMW released official teasers of the M3 earlier this year, but that car was covered in heavy M-liveried camouflage. The car in these photos, however, is completely uncovered. And it looks … interesting.
In the photos, you can see two different M3s, one white and one black. Both of them seem to be sitting in some sort of garage bay, and not entirely finished. It looks as if they were spied on at some point during their production process, as the foglight holes in the front bumper appear empty. Their incomplete status isn’t what’s interesting, though. Instead, its funky front bumper and unusual foglights take front and center.
Like the normal BMW i3, which was already officially revealed, the new electric M3 (iM3?) has the same wide headlights. That’s where the front-end simlarities end, though. The front bumper is entirely new and creates a weird, upward swooping “T” shape beneath the headlights. I don’t know about you but I see a Guy Fawkes mask when I look at it. It doesn’t look bad, it’s just a bit odd. I do like the massive air inlets in the bumper, though. Those aforementioned fog lights are peculiar, too, as they’re just two small, vertically stacked squares flanking either side of the bumper.
Source: BMW
There’s a massive hood scoop, too. Perhaps BMW has worked some aerodynamic trickery to send air through the kidneys and have it come out of the hood? Can it cool the front electric drive unit? Or did BMW just add a hood scoop because it’s cool and most of the best M3s had some sort of hood feature? Either way, it looks good.
Since this is just an unofficial leak, one that BMW is going to be… less than pleased with, there aren’t any specs or other official information. We do know that BMW will offer a quad-motor powertrain for the electric M3, one for each wheel, which is rumored to make upwards of 800 horsepower.
If this leak is real, I’ll welcome this new electric M3 design, as the mustachioed front end looks fun and it has some interesting character. Hopefully, it can deliver on its driving promise, and not just its looks.
