M anniversary special channels classic CSL

New BMW 3.0 CSL is a modern tribute to Batmobile racers

- James Brodie

• Based on M4 Coupé, but features 552bhp and bespoke tech

BMW M's 50th anniversary is being marked with not one, but two bespoke M cars. Say hello to the hardcore 3.0 CSL.

It joins the XM SUV as an M Division project to mark its half-century, and it's a modern-day version of the legendary 3.0 CSL Batmobile. However, with a production run of only 50 examples planned, it will be a rarer item than its forebear.

The design is contemporary BMW, but with one or two twists alluding to the seventies car and distancing the 3.0 CSL from BMW's other new 'Coupé Sport Lightweight' model, the recently launched M4 CSL. At the front, the more classically styled kidney grille arrangement compared with the M4 it's based on is combined with a lower apron featuring two circular air intakes, similar to those that feature on the original CSL.