Celebrating 50 years of its most important car with the M340i 50 Jahre Edition.
By Chris Chin
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It’s a big year for Bavarian Motor Works. Not only is BMW celebrating its 50th anniversary in North America. Its historically most significant car is also sharing the same birthday: the 3 Series.
To commemorate the moment, BMW held a low-key debut at Classic Car Club Manhattan to reveal the M340i 50 Jahre Edition. It’s an extremely limited production and special edition model, based on the fastest, most expensive and top-spec 3 Series sedan.
While it might look like your ordinary M340i, what it represents is far more significant.
It was five decades ago when BMW launched the world’s first 3 Series, the E21. Since then, it has gone on to become the automaker’s best-selling and most successful model. That is, until the company launched the X3 and X5 SAVs.
Because of its runaway success, the 3 Series is attributed as being one of BMW’s saviors at a time when it nearly went bankrupt. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, the automaker nearly faltered while trying to find its footing post-Second World War.
With Allied attacks having reduced virtually every production facility to smithereens, it made for a long road to recovery. Once World War II ended, BMW made several attempts to revive its car-making efforts.
Few were successful, until it launched its first range of Neue Klasse automobiles. That gave birth to the iconic 2002, the spiritual predecessor to the 3 Series.
Though the 2002 helped dig BMW out of its financial rut, the 3 Series cemented its fiscal security. Suffice to say, BMW wouldn’t be where it is today without the commercial success of the 3 Series and its forebear in North America.
Which, to be honest, is why we’re a little bit surprised at how subtle BMW was about celebrating the moment.
Nonetheless, the BMW M340i 50 Jahre Edition (“jahre” translates to “years” in German) tips its hat to its predecessors in more ways than one.
To distinguish the M340i 50 Jahre Edition from your normal plain-Jane M340i, BMW is offering the limited-production model with a selection of five exclusive color combinations. All five hues pay tribute to the 3 Series’ most iconic from each generation.
For the first-ever 3 Series, the E21, that was Ruby Red Metallic with an Ivory interior. With the succeeding E30, its signature hue was Boston Green Metallic on Tartufo (medium brown).
With the E36 generation in the 1990s, Avus Blue Metallic on Tartufo was its most successful combo. For the E46, it was Carbon Black Metallic on Black. And with the E90, Sparkling Graphite Metallic on Tartufo was among the most popular.
Standard top-grade Extended Merino Leather adds to the M340i 50 Jahre Edition’s uniqueness. It’s the first time the high-quality hide is being offered in the US-market 3 Series.
Rounding out the special appointments is a standard BMW M Performance exhaust and a carbon fiber rear lip spoiler.
BMW didn’t say how many M340i 50 Jahre Editions it’s making. But a spokesperson did say that it’ll be strictly made at its homebase in Munich. Compared to other regular 3 Series models, which are assembled in Mexico for the North American market.
And you’ll have to dig deep into your pockets. Invoices start at $75,200, not including the usual $1,175 destination and handling charge.
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