Want to get a car enthusiast’s attention? You can spend millions on a sensationally styled supercar concept with soybean-sourced faux suede upholstery and solar energy-enhanced plug-in-hybridized biofuel-powered greenness, which will never get produced, or you can simply pump up the power in our favourite sport sedan, douse it in some matte grey paint, add a few special badges and call it a day.

That’s what BMW has done with its legendary M5, although the “30 JAHRE///M5” (30 Years of the M5) badges found on the front fender engine vent trim, doorsill plates, and sewn into the seat inserts, plus the “30 JAHRE///M5 x/300” plaque fixed to the passenger-side dash are a great deal more important than most special edition hardware, as they celebrate 30 years of the most revered sport sedan to ever hit the road. The only bad news is that the “x” in the nomenclature above represents 1 through 300 limited edition models.

No tears will be shed by the lucky 300 who get to own the most powerful production M5 ever created, mind you, as they’ll take delivery of a car that puts 600 horsepower down to the rear wheels. The specially tuned twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 churns out 516 lb-ft of Michelin-shredding torque too; good for a 3.9-second sprint to 100 km/h if you can keep them locked to the pavement.

As if anyone buying this car cares in the slightest, as part of one of the shortest press releases BMW has ever issued the automaker decided to include this most powerful BMW’s fuel economy and CO2 emissions ratings, the former equaling 9.9 L/100km combined city/highway and the latter an average of 231 g/km.

If it were all about engine output the M5 simply wouldn’t be an M5, therefore unique leather and suede-like Alcantara upholstery gets added to the seats, while additional details (over and above the aforementioned badging) such as an Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel enhance the interior. On the outside, BMW’s Frozen Dark Silver matte paint gives the car a custom tuner appearance, while a gorgeous set of 20-inch alloy rims come as part of the standard Competition Package.

Even more exclusive than the 45 Euro-spec M3s that came to Canada for model year 1994, all of North America will receive an allocation of only thirty 30-year anniversary M5s, so if you haven’t spoken for yours yet it’s undoubtedly gone already, being that the order books were reportedly opened way back on May 21st.
©(Copyright Canadian Auto Press)