Hartge's Untamed BMW 1 M Coupe Pushes Out 396-horses

Joining a multitude of tuners that have worked over the BMW 1 M Coupe this past year is Hartge. The German company's program includes both performance upgrades and styling modifications for the M version of the 1-Series Coupe.

The tweaking starts under the hood with a Hartge power kit and a sports exhaust system that improve upon the standard model's 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six lifting output from 335hp (340PS) to 396hp (401PS) at 5,850 rpm and maximum torque from 450Nm to 530Nm (391 lb-ft) at 2,950 rpm.

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SPIED: BMW's New M3 Sedan Drops Two Cylinders but Gains Turbochargers

The engineers over at BMW's M division have their hands full with a variety of upcoming projects, one of which is the new M3 captured here in a sedan body style.

The first thing you'll need to know about the next M3 saloon and its two-door siblings (rumor has it they may be named M4), is that the current model's 4.0-liter naturally-aspirated V8 will give its place to a smaller displacement six-cylinder engine that will follow the example of the M5 employing the use of turbochargers.

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Chris Harris Test Drives BMW's Tri-Turbocharged and Diesel-Powered M550d xDrive Sedan

The new BMW M550d xDrive may be a forbidden fruit in the largest English-speaking markets of the world but that doesn't make the diesel-powered sports saloon any less interesting.

In the latest edition of his online show, DRIVE, Chris Harris sat in the driver's seat of the new BMW M Performance car and took it for a test drive.

Before you watch the video after the break, we'll remind you that the M550d xDrive sports a 3.0-liter inline-six diesel with three turbochargers sending 381PS (375bhp) and a monstrous 740Nm (546 lb-ft) of peak torque to all-four wheels through a standard 8-speed automatic for a 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of just 4.7 seconds.

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SPY SHOTS: New 2013 BMW M6 Gran Coupe is On its Way

BMW is planning to inject some serious power under the hood of its sexy 6-Series Gran Coupe sports sedan with the addition of a flagship version wearing the iconic M badge.

However, don't expect any prizes for guessing the power source as it's a well-known fact that all upper level BMW M models are motivated by the same or in some cases, mildly modified version of the brand's 4.4-liter bi-turbo V8 engine.

We anticipate that it will be the same unit found in the brand-new M6 Coupe and Convertible models with the internal designation S63Tü.

And while there's always the possibility of BMW M engineers fiddling around with the electronics to push out a few more ponies, chances are it will deliver the same output at 560-horses (412kW) between 5,750 and 7,000 rpm, and a peak torque of 680Nm (502lb-ft) from 1,500 to 5,750 rpm.

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