√BMW M4 ute makes its debut, borrows HSV’s Maloo name
First BMW 5 Series sedans replaced Holdens as Highway Patrol cars, now a BMW M4 ute wants to be the next HSV Maloo.
A BMW M4 ute has been unveiled at the annual Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show in Las Vegas this week.
Created by carbon-fibre specialty company DinMann, the ute was created from a brand-new M4 Competition xDrive bought from BMW in April, before the company began to cut up the coupe for its ute makeover in late September.
The project was still far from being done in late October, despite the SEMA show opening on 2 November – as chronicled on the car’s dedicated Instagram account.
Nicknamed the ‘M4 Maloo’, the car was wrapped in blue chrome less than 24 hours before the doors to the event opened.
A number of BMW-based utes have surfaced over the years, including a show-stopping E39 M5 ute commissioned by Australian golfing great Stuart Appleby, along with another E39 conversion coming up for sale in August 2020.
While BMW engineers secretly made an M3-powered E30 3 Series ute in 1986 – which was used as a parts hauler at its factory for 26 years – as well as creating a E92 M3 ute as an April Fools’ Day exercise, and an X7 SUV-based concept in 2019, the company has never mass-produced a ute.
Following the launch of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class – essentially a reskinned and upgraded Nissan Navara – BMW Australia told Drive it had been lobbying its German headquarters for its own dual-cab ute, before publicly ruling out the possibility of such a model being developed.
The post BMW M4 ute makes its debut, borrows HSV’s Maloo name appeared first on Drive.
Post a Comment for "√BMW M4 ute makes its debut, borrows HSV’s Maloo name"