It’s now over a year since BMW’s M department confirmed that the current generation G80 M3 would spawn a production Touring version. It feels as though we’ve been waiting for an age, particularly because BMW teased us over 20 years ago with the E46 M3 Touring prototype.

Anyway, this isn’t us telling you that the new one is finally here. Sorry. As you can see from the camo’d images above, it’s still in development, although these pics aren’t from some spy snapper hiding in a bush – BMW itself has been plastering them over social media.

It might not be long now then. Conspicuous lack of a front end shot though, isn’t there? Yes, that grille will be present.

The latest pics see the Touring complete with a 'Ring sticker, 'bring it on' as its caption. Is the Nordschleife estate car lap record in its sights? Is that relevant to any estate car buyers? Time will tell.

Still, if you can’t get excited by a 500hp+ performance estate, these might not be the Internet pages you were looking for…

STORY Greg Potts