Re: true but you forget..... (archive)

That the E36 4-DOOR M3 was discontinued and the M3 2 DOOR coupe continued to sell only because the new E46 3 Series Coupe didn't come out until a while after the E46 3 Series sedan (on which the E36 4-door M3 was based). The E39 is only a 4 door version. Once the new E60 5 series comes out, the current M5 is all done.

yeah - I know - I didn't write that all the 4 door E36s were discontinued a year earlier than E36 coupes, and the E46 4 doors came out a year earlier than E46 coupes...they sold both E46 4 doors and E36 coupes in MY1999... Also, 3ers are made in many factories so they have more options re. model year rollovers (eg re-tool one factory while building from others) while I think all 5ers are made in Dingolfing, so they need a knife-edge rollover for them...

I agree that they probably won't keep the E39 tooling around just for M5s, in fact I bet that the E39 M5 production will stop 4 - 6 months before the other E39s... Normally production runs stop on Aug 2, and the M series end-of-life (at least with both MZ3s and E36 M3 coupes) stopped/will stop in May...bummer 'cause, coupled with the delay from a new body style start of production to the M version, that just makes the time with no-M5 production even longer...

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