America’s Lust For The BMW M5 Wagon Bodes Well For The M3 Touring

The BMW M5 sports sedan and its Touring sibling have been enjoying very high demand all over the world, and the regional split could mean very good things for the future of high-performance Bimmer station wagons. Speaking to BMWBlog, BMW M CEO Frank van Meel said that while the four-door sedan is more popular in Europe, Americans have shown an affinity for the Touring variant instead. Given BMW is using the M5 Touring’s reception as a barometer for the next-generation M3 wagon, we think it’s all but guaranteed to arrive in the U.S. now.

The BMW M3 Touring’s Fate Still Isn’t Sealed

The German brand from Munich hasn’t offered a station wagon in the U.S. since the 2019 330i Touring, and even before that, BMW was pretty wagon-averse in our market. As a result, when the first-ever production M3 Touring was announced for 2024, American consumers were disappointed – but not surprised – to learn BMW wouldn’t offer it on our shores. That envy only grew when the M3 Touring CS dropped, boasting 543 horsepower and a stiffer chassis to control all that grunt. But the company gave us a glimmer of hope when it said that it would monitor the success of the BMW M5 Touring in the U.S. and use that as a gauge for whether to offer the next-generation M3 here in long-roof form.

Well, it seems Americans are one or two big steps closer to getting their dream, factory-direct M3 station wagon, thanks to high demand for the M5. Per van Meel: “Well, actually in Europe, still more sedan than Touring. [The] U.S. is the other way around. We currently have a higher demand in the U.S. for the Touring than for the sedan.” When has a station wagon ever been more popular in America than on the Continent? And even globally, the sales split is roughly 50:50 between the two body styles, meaning the wagon is supremely popular.

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The BMW M3 CS Touring Is A 543-HP Über-Wagon

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The U.S. Market Loves Its Hi-Po Wagons

The initial success of the BMW M5 Touring shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. After all, Audi has enjoyed remarkable success from its RS6 Avant, and Mercedes saw fit to reintroduce American consumers to its latest E-Class AMG wagon (although in less spicy, inline-six E53 form). As much as mass-market consumers turn up their noses at wagons, they still seem to do decent numbers in ultra-performance segments – there must be some psychological draw to the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality of a Ferrari-humbling station wagon.

Despite its prodigious mass, the M5 Touring is one such exemplar of supercar performance in a family-friendly package. BMW says its fast wagon will hit 60 miles per hour in just 3.5 seconds, a number that felt very attainable in our first drive of the thing last year. The M5 Touring is also deceptively comfortable and spacious, with plenty of room for passengers and their luggage. Given the big cargo and even bigger performance on offer, why would anyone choose anything other than the wagon variant of a very fast sedan?

Source: BMWBlog via Motor1