Right-hand-drive BMWs for N.Z.?

Press, 24 July 1987, Page 21

Right-hand-drive BMWs for N.Z.?

Affluent, dyed-in-the-wool motoring enthusiasts, who would give their eye teeth to own a BMW M 3, but are not prepared to handle a left-hand-drive car in a country where the traffic keeps to the left, might be able to do so after all thanks to Frank Gardner, the director of BMW Australia Ltd’s JPS Racing team.

Gardner, who was responsible for the development of the JPS M 3 with which expatriate New Zealander Jim Richards has just won this year’s Australian Touring Car Championship, has also built the right-hand-drive M 3 which BMW NZ Ltd displayed on its stand at Auckland’s Motor Expo last week.

Designed and built by BMW Motorsport in Munich, the M 3 is the Bavarian car-maker’s successor to the BMW 635CSi for Group A touring car racing and it has dominated the early rounds in the newly-instituted World Touring Car Championship, although more recently Ford’s Sierra Cosworth has begun to make its presence felt. Designed by Germans, it’s not surprising that the M 3 is a left-hand-drive car. What is more, unlike other BMWs, which have been developed with an

eye to export, the M 3 was designed first and foremost as a Group A race car and was supposed to be incapable of being converted to left-hand drive.

It was said that conversion could not be accomplished without wrecking the exhaust manifold design, something BMW Motorsport was not prepared to do. Consequently, anyone who wanted an M 3 in countries where the traffic keeps to the left had to be content with a left-hand-drive model.

That situation still pertains and availability in New Zealand will depend on whether BMW Germany will produce a right-hand-drive factory version.

At present BMW New Zealand, Ltd, in conjunction with BMW Australia, is negotiating with Germany for a right-hand-drive version.

Although exact figures have yet to be reached, BMW New Zealand’s general manager, Geoff Fletcher, believes that the Gardner version of the M 3 would sell in New Zealand for about $140,000.

Only a superficial examination could be made within the confines of Motor Expo, but the Gardner M 3 appears to conform to the original design tn the most significant respects and the general finish of the car is in line with the parent company’s standards;