In 2003 BMW introduced the series version of the Concept Car which had already hit the headlines at the 2001 Frankfurt Motor Show – the BMW M3 CSL, an abbreviation standing for “Coupé, Sports, Lightweight”.
Indeed, this BMW tradition goes all the way back to the ’30s of the former century, when the legendary 328 Mille Miglia Touring Coupé first saw the light of day. This time, however, BMW’s engineers interpreted the old theme in a new way, focusing not on the radical reduction of weight simply by removing individual components, but rather on intelligent lightweight engineering, that is the reduction of weight by using the best and most appropriate materials at the right point. Accordingly, BMW’s experts succeeded in reducing the weight of the BMW M3 by more than 110 kilos or 243 lb, with the CSL version weighing in at just 1,385 kg or 3,054 lb.
