The BMW M3, throughout its years in existence, has always been considered one of the benchmarks for a great-handling sports car. Even though it has evolved from being a hardcore motorsport-bred homologation special to a powerful executive sports sedan, one thing has remained the same; it never fails to live up to its brand's "Ultimate Driving Machine" slogan.

For 2022 though, the iconic M3 is set to grow a pair of D-pillars, as BMW has teased us with an all-new M3 Touring version, something many people consider a long-time coming from the German manufacturer. Like they say, it's better late than never, right? An M3 station wagon is finally coming true, and we're more than excited to tell you more about it.

8 First-Ever Long Roof M3

In the M3's 34-year long history, this will be the first time an M3 wagon will be made as a production model. But what most people don't know is that it's not the first time we saw an M3 wagon. As 20 years ago, a prototype was built using the third-generation E46 model.

BMW saw the flexibility and practicality of a station wagon could be combined with M specific high-performance. And finally, in the sixth-generation G80 model, long-time BMW M enthusiasts finally get what they've been waiting for.

RELATED: 10 Things Everyone Forgot About The BMW E46 M3

7 Motorsport And Transport Combo

Previously, the performance of a BMW M car on a functional Touring model was reserved exclusively for the bigger BMW M5, as a Touring version was first seen on the second-generation E34 M5, which once held the record for being the world's fastest wagon.

BMW did it again in 2007 with the last naturally aspirated M5 model, the E61 Touring. It had a V10 engine with 507 hp, and was packed with F1-derived technology, as BMW was still in Formula One as a works team back then.

RELATED: Retro Wagon Race: BMW M5 V10 Vs Audi RS6 Vs Mercedes-AMG E55

6 Two Year Development Cycle

Back in 2020, BMW officially announced the M3 Touring won't go on sale at least for two more years, as it will undergo an intensive two-year development cycle to further hone the new performance wagon.

Of course, like many other BMW Ms of the past, those intensive testing and tuning process were done on the Nürburgring-Nordschleife circuit together with the high-speed Nardo Ring, the Sachsenring in Germany and the Tyrolean Alps.

RELATED: Everything We Know About The BMW M3 Touring

5 Taking The Fight To Audi And Mercedes

As mentioned, it's been 15 years since the last BMW M Touring model was revealed. And since then, we've been left with only two German performance wagons - the Audi RS4 Avant and the Mercedes C63 S AMG Estate.

This time, though, BMW has their eyes set on taking the fight to their two established rivals, as they gave hints that they are coming after the station wagon lap record around the Nürburgring by putting a "B'Ring It On" banner on the prototype car's sides.

4 TwinPower Turbo

Like its sedan counterpart, the six-cylinder S58 M TwinPower turbo engine will give the necessary propulsion to the M3 Touring. It looks set to have the same power output at 473 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque in the standard model.

There are hints that there might be a Competition model coming for the M3 Touring model as well. And if that happens, the six-cylinder engine's power will be bumped up to 503 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque.

3 Optional M xDrive

A quick check to BMW M's Instagram page gave us a hint that there might also be an all-wheel-drive version of the M3 Touring, as they released a video of the prototype being tested on the snowy Alps, making it capable of dealing with adverse weather conditions.

The current M3 sedan has an xDrive all-wheel-drive option particularly in the Competition model, which according to MotorTrend, could go from 0 to 60 mph in just 2.98 seconds.

2 Variable Luggage Compartment

BMW's opening sentence in their press release of the M3 Touring started with a question that says "How about an extra-large and highly variable luggage compartment in a high-performance sports car?" that clearly states that the greatly increased space will be of great importance in the upcoming new model.

According to Hagen Franke, Product Manager of the BMW M3 Touring, you could be able to fit stuff ranging from mountain bikes to even things as large as washing machines at the back of the wagon.

1 The Bad News

Here's something that BMW M enthusiasts from America might not want to hear - the BMW M3 Touring won't be sold in the United States, as a BMW spokesperson told the BMW Blog that bringing the M3 Touring to American shores "was found to be cost-prohibitive" due to the different crash testing regulations needed to homologate the new model.

Crash testing regulations in America have different parameters compared to Europe. Different testing parameters would mean different designs, and different designs would mean additional development costs that would be hard to offset as BMW reckons they won't be selling large numbers of the M3 Touring units in the United States, and might even have a low volume production model run in other countries where it will be offered.