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BMW pondering hardcore M4 to celebrate 100 years?

2013 is the year for Lamborghini, Aston Martin and the Porsche 911, but 2016 will be the year for BMW. That's when the Munich-based maker of the Ultimate Driving Machine will celebrate its 100th birthday, with what will probably be a year-long celebration. Part of that 365-day party will, reportedly, be an even hotter version of the new BMW M4, which is set to debut in January at the Detroit Auto Show.
Yes, according to Australia's Car Sales, the über-M4 has been hinted at by higher-ups at BMW's M division, who claim the rear seats will be removed, much like the M3 GTS, while other weight-saving measures will be used to try and bring the M4's weight below 3,000 pounds. There's no mention of engine mods, but if the M4's biturbocharged six is as good as we think it'll be, that's not a deal-breaker for us.
The lightening process on the so-called M4 GTS would involve replacing the hood and front fenders with parts made of carbon fiber, while the doors would switch from steel to aluminum. Besides the deletion of the rear seats, Car Sales is predicting lightweight racing buckets, with a carbon-fiber shell and a minimal amount of padding. Expect lots and lots of Alcantara, in place of leather.

BMW M3 and M4 CSL not in the cards

We aren't sure whether to file this one under "good news" or "bad news." BMW confirmed to Top Gear that there "are no plans" for lightweight versions of the new M3 and M4, in the same vein as the E46 M3 CSL (despite rumors to the contrary). The reason?
"There wasn't a CSL on the previous generation, and the way we look at it is like this: the CSL was great because it had this real focus on lightweight engineering. But we've already done that with these new cars. We've made them as light as possible - they come in under 1500 kilograms (3,306 pounds), which for a car like this is incredible," said Matt Collins, BMW's product manager for small to medium cars.
Now, as much as we love the idea of a hardcore version of any car, we appreciate BMW's point of view that the newest Ms are already as light and tough as they need to be. Collins elaborated, saying, "Rather than doing a halfway house to begin with and then rolling out a CSL, we thought we'd make the 'real' car as light as we possibly could. So we've no plans whatsoever to make a lighter, harder version just yet."

Is BMW ready to increase i8 production?

The BMW i8 plug-in hybrid is really fast. But the car is getting to customers really slowly. The German automaker might be doing something about that. Bimmer executive Ian Robertson, speaking with reports at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week, commented on the high demand for the super-PHEV and said the company may step up production in Germany, Automotive News Europe says. That's because the wait list for the i8 is approaching 18 months in some global markets. And Robertson would like to get that timeframe down to about six months. No details were disclosed about how fast the i8 is being produced or how much faster that production rate may get. The i8, which retails for about $135,000, started sales in Europe in June and in the US two months later. As for the smaller, slower i3 electric vehicle, BMW is making about 2,000 units a month, and wait lists are down to about four months. Part of the reason for that is because BMW shifted distribution rates for that model towards the US to meet higher-than-expected demand from stateside consumers and slow German sales. Through the end of October in the US, BMW had sold almost 4,300 i3 vehicles and 271 i8 models, including 204 i8 units last month alone.