BMW New Six: История и Модели (E3/E9)

The BMW New Six (also known as the BMW E3) is a line of full size luxury sedans and grand tourer coupés produced by the German automaker BMW from 1968 to 1977. All models used the then new M30 straight 6 engine. It marked BMW's return to the full size luxury sedan market after a hiatus of 5 years and was introduced as a response to growing market segment dominated by Mercedes Benz. It was important in establishing BMW's reputation as a maker of sporting luxury sedans. The BMW New Six coupés (better known as the BMW E9) are built on a shortened version of the E3 platform. The E9 coupés share engines, transmissions, some suspension and many other features with the E3 sedans. A total of 221,991 sedans and coupés were built.

After a long hiatus, BMW decided to develop a six cylinder car in the early 1960s. Work on what was to become the E3 commenced in 1965. The engine was based on the existing M10 inline 4s, sharing their overall layout, though not merely adding two cylinders. A goal was to offer more passenger space and comfort than the earlier, somewhat smaller New Class saloons had. The new sedan was noticeably a "driver's car", focusing on the front seat occupants, and the smaller E9 coupé was more of a 2+2 than a full four seater. A new feature was the twin headlights, set into the grille, a design which was to define BMW styling for decades. Early mockups of the E3 featured broad rectangular single headlamps with rounded corners, but these never went into production perhaps as a result of the lukewarm reception of the similarly designed 2000 CS.

Models were given names denoting their engine sizes, and suffixes to indicate the long wheelbase (L) and fuel injection (i) available on later cars. The coupés were all named CS, followed by i (for fuel injection models) or L (for light weight models, which also had fuel injection and higher power). 2500/2.5, 2.5CS (2494 cc, )
2800/2.8, 2800CS (2788 cc, )
3.0S, 3.0L, 3.0CS (2985 cc, using twin Zenith 35/40 INAT carburetors)
3.0Si, 3.0Li, 3.0CSi (2985 cc, 200 or , depending whether Bosch D Jetronic or L Jetronic was installed)
3.3L, 3.3Li (3295 cc, )
3.3Li (3210 cc, 1976 1977)

The CS coupé models were based on the standard 2800 sedans, and looked very similar from the front. But they were also related to the earlier 2000CS, as is evident at the rear. The first model was the well equipped 2800CS of 1968. The 3.0CS models introduced in 1971. In 1974 the smaller engined 2.5CS was made in small numbers, in response to the fuel crisis. The CSL models were lightweight racing versions.