In a major throwback to its motorsport heritage of the '1960s, BMW will soon be bringing back the iconic CSL badge on its 'appropriate' M-spec cars, a spokesperson from the company was quoted saying so. In BMW speak; CSL stands for coupe, sport, lightweight. The CSL badge was last seen on the 2003 BMW M3 (in picture). Going by the name, we might not see the CSL badging on BMW SUVs and crossovers with the M badge. Speaking to a publication, the spokesperson from BMW said that the CSL badge will replace the 'GTS' badge that some of the more mental BMW M cars carry.
To give you an idea, one could definitely see something like the BMW M4 having a CSL in the near future, as the m4 is a coupe after all. There could be more here. What is also interesting that BMW has trademarked the M8 CSL along with M2 CSL and the M4 CSL.
The legendary CSL badge made its name when BMW built the 3.0 CSL, a homologation car which enabled the company to participate in the European Touring Car Championship way back in 1965. In order to participate in the racing series, BMW AG had to sell a thousand units of a homologated car. The capacity of the first ever CSL badged car was 3,003 cc and the in-line 6 engine made around 200 bhp at 5,500 rpm. it had a top speed of 220 kmph and could do the 0-100 kmph run in about 7 seconds. Although it did have an 'M' badge, many purists believe that the 3.0 CSL was the first ever M car and it also had the tri-colour race livery as well.
