BMW M4 GTS has been confirmed for North America (unofficially)

Last year, spy shots of a BMW F82 M4 GTS testing on the Nurburgring leaked onto the Internet, immediately starting the “to be or not to be” speculation on whether or not we’d be getting the option to buy one over here.

A few days ago, an employee of a BMW dealership in Las Vegas leaked a photo to Bimmerpost showing the availability of the M4 in GTS form, designated 164W. While it hasn’t been officially confirmed by BMW USA yet, Bimmerpost says the earliest build date for the M4 GTS is April 2016. Logically, that would mean the M4 GTS would be available sometime in the summer of next year.

The previous generation 2011 M3 GTS (unavailable for North America), limited to less than 150 vehicles, was a hardcore hand-built track-ready monster. Equipped with a roll cage from the factory and stripped down to the bare necessities, the M3 GTS was a bonafide fire-breathing track weapon. This wasn’t a car one would buy for status, this was a car that you bought to go racing or trackdays in every weekend. The only sound system it was equipped with was the sound of a 444-hp 4.4L V8 screaming the song of its people.

The upcoming M4 GTS for North America won’t be quite as hardcore as the European counterpart. According to Car and Driver, the GTS probably won’t ship with a cage or a five-point harness but will likely have a pretty trick water-injection system to bring those intake charge temps down, along with a giant wing as seen on the M4 MotoGP pace car. A rear seat delete and weight savings over the standard M4 are almost certain.

In other BMW news, the BMW X2 bite-sized four-door coupe crossover has been given the green light for production, according to Autocar, available for purchase in the UK for 2017. The X2 will ride on the UKL platform and will undoubtedly look similar to the X4 and the X6 while the guts of its interior is expected to share DNA with the front-wheel-drive X1 and the 1-series sedan.