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BMW M’s 50th Anniversary celebrations kick off with new badge and historic colour options

It’s a big year for BMW M, so to begin the celebrations, it’s bringing back some iconic heritage cues

BMW M is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2022, so it’s got a big year planned to make the most of it. Yet before we see the all-new and bespoke XM – the performance brand’s first plug-in hybrid – a new generation of M2 and even the rumoured return of the CSL nomenclature, the party will begin with the reintroduction of the heritage Motorsport roundel, as well as some of the iconic M-car colour options of the past. 

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The motorsport roundel itself was introduced in 1972 alongside the formal establishment of BMW Motorsport GmbH as it was known then. The iconic blue, violet and red colour combination was created by then BMW interior designer Wolfgang Seehaus. It represented BMW in blue, motorsport in red, with violet included as a combination of the two. 

The original roundel was first shown on a 1973 3.0 CSL competition car, and will be optional on all BMW M and M Sport models built in the 2022 model year – an apt celebration of the anniversary.

Alongside the new badge, BMW will also reintroduce a range of historical racing colour options across various M models. These will include some of our favourites from over the years with Dakar Yellow, Imola Red, Fire Orange and Daytona Violet adding to an already diverse and colourful range. 

Some, if not all, of these colour options are already available under BMW’s Individual colour scheme programme, but will be made available at a lower price point, and without the extra lead time required for models to go through the custom colour process. 

So on the back of some impressive form in 2020 and 2021, BMW M’s 50th anniversary year looks like it’ll be even more colourful in every sense. An M4 CSL in Macao Blue with some dusty gold wheels? Where do we sign?

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