BMW Built 53 3.0 CSLs, Not 50, And Three Sit Outside The Numbered Run
by Horatiu Boeriu · BMWBLOGArticle Summary
- BMW built 53 3.0 CSLs, not the 50 usually quoted: 50 cars carry VINs ending 001 to 050, and three more (086, 568, and 661) all went to Germany.
- All 53 cars have the same spec: Alpine White 3, a manual gearbox, carbon-ceramic brakes with red calipers, and gold wheels.
- The cars went to 22 countries, led by Germany (16) and Switzerland (5), and only one was officially sold in the US, although three are known to be in the country.
The BMW 3.0 CSL is usually described as a 50-car limited edition. The production data says BMW built 53. VIN-level records compiled by MDataWorks, an independent tracker with no connection to BMW, list 53 G82-based 3.0 CSLs, all with a manual gearbox. The VIN list explains the gap. Fifty cars carry sequential VIN endings from 001 to 050. The other three end in 086, 568, and 661, well outside that sequence, and all three were delivered in Germany.
The data doesn’t say why those three were built, or whether BMW counts them as part of the edition. It does show they’re built to the same spec as the other 50, so this isn’t a case of prototypes being counted as production cars. We spotted these three prototypes a few years ago during an event we attended at the Monza Circuit.
Every 3.0 CSL Is Specced The Same
There was no configurator for this car. All 53 are Alpine White 3, all have carbon-ceramic brakes with red calipers, and all ride on gold wheels. MDataWorks doesn’t even list a tire breakdown for the 3.0 CSL, because there’s nothing to break down.
Where The 3.0 CSLs Went
The 53 cars went to 22 countries. Germany took 16, almost a third of production, including all three cars outside the numbered run.
- Germany: 16
- Switzerland: 5
- France: 4
- Netherlands: 4
- UK: 4
- Belgium: 2
- Italy: 2
- Oman: 2
- One each: Austria, Croatia, Guernsey, Hungary, Japan, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, and the US
Switzerland, with 5 cars, took more than the UK and France did, the same pattern we saw with the M4 CSL, where the Swiss ordered 64 cars. Oman took two, as many as Italy. Guernsey, a Channel Island with about 64,000 residents, got one. By region, 47 cars were left-hand drive and 6 were right-hand drive.
One Official US Car, Three In The Country
Only one 3.0 CSL was officially sold in the US: VIN ending 047. MDataWorks doesn’t even give the 3.0 CSL a North American region. The US car is counted with the rest-of-world left-hand-drive cars, which suggests it wasn’t built to a US-market spec.We know of three 3.0 CSLs in the US, though: two on the West Coast and one on the East Coast. That means at least two came into the country after being delivered somewhere else.
How It Fits With The Other CS And CSL Models
With 53 cars, the 3.0 CSL is by far the rarest of the G8x-based special editions. The M4 CSL reached 1,036, the M4 CS 1,546, the M3 CS Touring 932, and the automatic M3 CS 1,727. The US took hundreds of each of the other cars, but only one 3.0 CSL.
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