BMW E3
| BMW New Six | |
|---|---|
BMW 2500
|
|
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | BMW |
| Production | 1968–1977 221,991 built |
| Designer | Wilhelm Hofmeister |
| Body and chassis | |
| Class | Full-size luxury car (F) |
| Body style | 4-door sedan/saloon 4-door extended sedan/saloon 2-door coupé |
| Layout | FR layout |
| Platform | BMW E3 (Sedan) BMW E9 (Coupe) |
| Powertrain | |
| Engine | |
| Transmission | |
| Dimensions | |
| Wheelbase | 2,692 mm (106.0 in) 2,794 mm (110.0 in) (LWB) |
| Length | 4,700 mm (185.0 in) 4,953 mm (195.0 in) (US bumpers) 4,801 mm (189.0 in) (LWB) |
| Width | 1,750 mm (68.9 in) |
| Height | 1,450 mm (57.1 in) |
| Curb weight | 1,334 kg (2,941 lb) 1,470 kg (3,240 lb) (LWB) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | BMW 501 |
| Successor | BMW E23 (BMW 7-Series) |
The BMW New Six is a line of full-size luxury sedans and GT coupes produced by the German automaker BMW from 1968 to 1977. All models used the then-new M30 straight-6 engine.
The E3 sedan version, which marked BMW's return to the full-size luxury sedan market after a hiatus of 5 years, was introduced as a response to growing market segment dominated by Mercedes-Benz. It was important in establishing BMW's reputation as a maker of sporting, luxury sedans.
The E9 2-door coupe version were produced alongside and racing versions of the coupé enhanced BMW's reputation in auto racing.
After a long hiatus, BMW decided to develop a six-cylinder car in the early 1960s. Work on what was to become the E3 commenced in 1965. The engine was based on the existing fours, sharing their overall layout while not merely an addition of two cylinders. The design team was led by Wilhelm Hofmeister, with some detail work executed by Italy's Bertone and Michelotti studios. A goal was to allow for more passenger space and comfort than what the earlier "Neue Klasse" saloons had been able to offer. The new sedan was noticeably a "driver's car", focusing on the front-seat occupants, and the smaller coupé was only barely a full four-seater.
A new feature was the twin headlights, set into the grille, a design which was to define BMW styling for decades. Early mockups of the E3 featured broad rectangular single headlamps with rounded corners, but these never went into production - perhaps as a result of the lukewarm reception of the similarly designed 2000 CS. The new car also required a new welding plant at BMW's Munich site. In spite of the car's all-new construction it only cost 70 million D-mark to develop. This was less than half of what one might have expected at the time.
Models were given names denoting their engine sizes, and suffixes to indicate the long-wheelbase (L) and fuel injection (i) available on later cars. The coupés were all named CS, followed by i (for fuel injection models) or L (for light-weight models, which also had fuel injection and higher power).
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