A Small Group Of M Engineers Had To Convince BMW To Make The M3 Touring | Carscoops carscoops
, and they thought they could combine everything with a wagon body and make a great car. So they quietly worked on it when they had time and managed to design something in their computers that they thought would not only drive wonderfully but would make sense for the company to actually build.
That’s when they realized they might actually have to sell higher-ups on the idea of making the car. And so they decided they would need a full-size model to convince them. “One day, out of nowhere, I got an invitation to coffee with [Christian Karg],” says Hubert Weichselbaumer, who build prototype vehicles. “It soon became clear that this wasn’t a social occasion but had a technical aspect, a submarine aspect. I was asked to think about how we could buildand started combining it with a G21 wagon body, which included a lot of welding.
“Of course, it was a developer’s dream come true,” says Karg. “If you remember the early phases and then see the result live, standing there with axles and wheels and remember the discussions, the meeting with Hubert, the meetings with the decision-makers, with all the colleagues you need for such a project to make sure everyone’s convinced, you get very emotional.”