BMW take the wraps off the 3.0 CSL Hommage – pictured with the original 3.0 CSL
The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage is revealed as BMW’s homage to the original 3.0 CSL, but it fails to capture the purity of the original lightweight.
BMW likes to do an homage to its historical cars – or ‘Hommage’, as they’re German – with the stunning M1 Hommage paying tribute to the original M1 supercar, and the 328 Hommage doing the same for the 328 of 1936. Now we have this, the BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage.
As they have before, BMW are unveiling the 3.0 CSL Hommage at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, but where the previous Hommage cars have been elegant and evocative, the CSL Hommage is anything but.
Yes, there are parts of the CSL Hommage that clearly evoke the original – like the Golf Yellow paint job, the headlights which pay homage to past BMW racers with their X-shaped centres, and some of the detail on the back – but overall, especially at the front, the CSL Hommage is ungainly, shouty and in-yer-face. Actually, it’s a bit of an ugly lump.
BMW has made the Hommage light like the original, but they’ve done that with modern materials – like CFRP – rather than aluminium and plexiglass, the interior has some nice bucket seats and a stylish roll-bar that’s V-shaped and cool.
It looks like BMW has given the CSL Hommage some sort of electric boost, either a mild hybrid or electric turbo bolted to an in-line six, but as a concept that’s all rather irrelevant.
Just like previous Hommage cars, the 3.0 CSL is a Concept, and there are almost certainly no plans to turn it in to a production model.
But it does seem likely that BMW will revive the CSL badge for an ultimate performance version of the 4 Series Coupe – which tells you how much BMW’s cars have grown in 40 years; the 3.0 CSL is the forerunner of the 6 Series, two sizes up from the 3/4 Series – but we hope they’ll make any future production CSL a bit more appealing than this.
The Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este runs this weekend – 23-24 May 2015 – on the banks of Lake Como. The BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage won’t be its star turn.
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