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BMW M and BMW Motorrad announced a joint anniversary edition on September 10, 2026, for a racetrack that turns 100 next year. The Nürburgring opened on June 18, 1927, and BMW Motorrad took its first win there the same year, so the relationship is real and long. The edition runs to nine models: the M2, M3 Sedan, M3 Touring, M4 Coupé, M5 Sedan and M5 Touring, plus the M 1000 RR, M 1000 R and M 1000 XR. All wear a Nürburgring Green developed for the edition.
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The tagline is Born on the Racetrack, Made for the Streets, and BMW builds its technical case on a system called M Ignite. That system has been standard on the cars in question for two months, and BMW’s own release says so three sentences after calling it a key innovation.
What the nine models get
The visual package is consistent and quite well done. The design uses a 100 Years logo, the wording Nürburgring since 1927 and a silhouette of the circuit. On the cars, graphics appear on the front doors, C-pillar and rear side sections depending on model, with stripes running across the M carbon roof on the M2, M3 Sedan, M4 Coupé and M5 Sedan, and across the steel roof on both Tourings.
Light gray, Nürburgring Green and black carry the scheme, with green accents on wheels and kidney frames. Inside, a black cabin gets green and white contrast stitching, an M Alcantara steering wheel with a twelve o’clock marker on the inline-six cars, and black Nürburgring embroidery on the M5 models, which also get Styling 951 M wheels with green accents.
The motorcycles are the more thorough job. Each gets the M Track Package as standard, a painted fuel tank carrying the Nordschleife outline, carbon wheels with green accent stripes, a black rear swingarm and rear frame, an Alcantara-look seat embroidered with 100, and an airbox cover individually marked one of 100. An M Cover Kit, an anniversary motorcycle mat and a rear paddock stand come with them.
Frank van Meel, chief executive officer of BMW M GmbH, calls the circuit “a second home for BMW M” and notes every production car is lapped on the Nordschleife. Markus Flasch, who runs BMW Motorrad, makes a similar point on the bike side. Neither claim is a stretch. The Nordschleife is 12.9 miles long with 73 corners, and BMW does develop there.
M Ignite is standard equipment, not edition equipment
Here is the part that does not survive a close reading. BMW’s release presents M Ignite as a key technical innovation for the inline six-cylinder models of the edition, then states in the next sentence that the system has been used in the engines of the M2, M3 and M4 since July and August 2026. Both things are in the same paragraph.
The technology itself is worth respecting. M Ignite puts a small pre-chamber in the cylinder head above each piston, connected to the main chamber by overflow openings, with its own spark plug and ignition coil.
That gives the S58 inline-six two ignition systems per cylinder. Under high load the pre-chamber lights first and fires flame jets into the main chamber at near-sonic speed, producing faster and more complete combustion, lower exhaust gas temperatures and less knock risk. BMW filed the patent in 2024. The concept is not new, since Honda ran a version of it in the 1970s Civic and Maserati uses one in the Nettuno V6 today, but BMW’s implementation is its own.
The benefit BMW leads with is track relevant and honest: less fuel burned under sustained load means more laps on a tank. The benefit it lists alongside is Euro 7 compliance, and Euro 7 takes effect in November 2026. Both are true at once. What is not true is that this is something the anniversary edition brings. Every M3 and M4 built since July has it, in Sedan, Touring, Competition, xDrive and CS form, and every M2 since August. Buying the edition does not get you the technology. Buying an M3 does.
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The M5s got the regulation without the remedy
The two M5 models in the edition do not have M Ignite, because it is an inline-six system and the M5 uses the 4.4-liter V8 in the M HYBRID drivetrain. In Europe, that V8 has been detuned to 536 hp to meet the strictest Euro 7 requirements, 41 hp less than before, with combined system output holding at 717 hp because the electric motor covers the difference.
So an edition built to celebrate a racetrack, and sold on the argument that motorsport technology reaches the road, includes two cars whose combustion engines just lost 41 hp to emissions rules, and four cars whose headline technology exists in part to satisfy the same rules. The engineering is genuine in both cases. The framing is doing a lot of work.
Capped bikes, uncapped cars, optional paint
The motorcycles are limited to 100 units each worldwide, and orders open on October 19, 2026. That is a real limited edition, individually numbered on the airbox cover.
The cars have no announced cap at all. BMW has not said how many M2, M3, M4 or M5 editions will be built, and has not published a price for any of them. Orders for the M3 Sedan, M3 Touring, M4 Coupé, M5 Sedan and M5 Touring are open now, with the M2 following in January 2027. An edition described as exclusive across nine models turns out to mean 300 motorcycles and an unspecified number of cars.
There is one more detail worth flagging. BMW calls the historical Nürburgring Green the common identifying feature of all the models. It then says the cars are alternatively available in Black Sapphire metallic. The one element unifying the edition can be deleted at order.
What the release leaves out
No price for any of the nine models. No production figure for the cars. No delivery dates. And, most usefully for readers outside Europe, no statement of where the edition is sold. Reporting indicates the lineup is intended for Europe and that M Ignite is not currently coming to M cars in North America, which means the technology BMW is using to justify the edition is unavailable in one of BMW M’s largest markets. The release does not mention North America once.
Also absent: any SUV. BMW M’s volume comes substantially from the X5 M and X6 M, and neither is in a nine-model tribute to the circuit where BMW says every production car is developed.
What to watch
October 19 is the date that matters, because 300 motorcycles at 100 each is the only truly scarce part of this and it will tell you what the appetite is. After that, pricing on the cars, which BMW is holding, and confirmation of whether North America gets any version of the edition at all.
The wider thing to watch is Euro 7 in November. BMW has now shown two responses to it inside one press release: a patented ignition system that preserves output on the inline-six, and a 41 hp reduction on the V8. Porsche is marking the same centenary with its own car. The Nordschleife will get plenty of tributes next year. This one is a good graphics package on cars that were already improving for reasons that have nothing to do with the anniversary.
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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 4:00 AM.