Last week, BMW surprised its American fans with a new M3 CS Handschalter, a special version of the G80 M3 CS with a six-speed manual transmission. Not only is it extra special for having the manual, but this edition was confirmed to be a North America-exclusive, adding to the list of US-only manual M cars from years gone by that has traditionally been limited to M5s and M6s.
But the excitement has been cut short, and not just because the M3 CS Handschalter loses out on 70 horsepower to make the stick shift work. It’s now been revealed by a BMW M insider that the model is a final goodbye for the G80 M3 generation, meaning the M3 as we know it will soon be dead.
G80 M3 Production Ends Soon
BMW M3 CS Handschalter PackageBMW
According to Bimmerlife, which spoke to BMW M North America Product Manager Scott Stirling, production of the G80 generation M3 will officially end in February 2027. Stirling has been a longtime member of the BMW Car Club of America (CCA) and has been in his current role with BMW for going on three years. As it turns out, he was the one that pushed for the M3 CS Handschalter to even exist. When pressed why the manual was slapped into the M3 CS and not the M4 equivalent, Stirling dropped the bad news:
“Given the production cycles, this is the last model year of G80, so this was my only opportunity.”
– Scott Stirling, BMW M North America Product Manager
BMW M3 CS Handschalter PackageBMW
But the project was also somewhat personal for Stirling, who admits that, “M3 is my favorite moniker regardless if it’s a four door. I own two M3s right now. So from a nerd and personal standpoint, doing the M3 was not more important, but it meant more to me.”
Stirling himself didn’t confirm the February 2027 end of production, but BMW insider ‘Ynguldyn’ on the Bimmerpost forum has been a regular source of reliable production information, and their data points to February being the G80’s intended last month. This will include production of the G81 BMW M3 Touring. The M4 (G82/G83) meanwhile, will remain in production until June 2029.
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This means the 2027 BMW M3 CS will be the last M3 of its kind, possibly for two reasons. On the one hand, it’s likely to be the last-ever M3 with a manual transmission. On the other hand, it’s quite likely the last M3 to ever offer a combustion engine with no hybrid assistance. BMW M has two successors planned for the M3. The automaker has made a big fuss about the Neue Klasse replacement (ZA0), with four electric motors and theoretical outputs in excess of 1,300 horsepower, but it’s also been confirmed that there will be a combustion successor (codenamed G84), built on a modified version of the G80’s architecture.
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The G84 M3 is expected to enter production in July 2028 and remain in production until October 2034. But it’s also expected to embrace hybridization in the same way the M5 has, with a plug-in hybrid system augmenting an updated version of the 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six. That detail hasn’t been made official, but with Mercedes-AMG and Audi pursuing the PHEV route, and BMW pioneering it with the M5, it’s unlikely it won’t do the same to remain competitive.
So the M3 as we know it is running out of time. Future versions will all likely have electrification in some form, and we’ve got quite some time to wait before the G84 arrives. That means if you want a G80, you’ve got to act fast, and if you have the means to secure one of the limited-production M3 CS Handschalters, it’s likely to become a true collectible, and prices are likely to soar in the months and years to come.
Sources: Bimmerlife, Bimmerpost
