Fans of BMW M cars - and that includes all of us at IOL Motoring - will pause for a moment's reflection on this wintry Monday morning at the news that the company has ended production of the fourth-generation (E92) M3 coupé, with the M3 convertible facing the axe in September.
More than that - it's also the end of the autobahn for BMW's insanely high-revving 90-degree M-spec four-litre V8 (309kW, 400Nm and 8400rpm!), winner of the International Engine of the Year in the three to four-litre class every year since it was introduced in 2007.
The new M3 sedan, due to debut early in 2014, is expected to go back to what BMW has done best since 1916 - a straight six, in this case a twin-turbo three-litre rated at about 335kW and 550Nm.
And only the sedan will inherit the iconic M3 badge.
The coupé and droptop, expected a few months later, will be badged as the M4.
Production of the E92 coupé reached more than 40 000, in addition to about 10 000 sedans and almost 16 000 convertibles (and the convertible still has a few months to go). All three versions were built on a special lightweight platform with its front axle mounted on an aluminium stiffening plate and a five-link rear axle with hollow-tube anti-roll bar and forged-aluminium control arms.
It was also the also the first high-revving M model with a dual-clutch transmission and the first to use carbon-fibre structural components (in this case the roof) on a production basis - along with an aluminium bonnet and plastic front side panels.
LIMITED EDITIONS
The E92 was also the basis for two very special limited-edition models, each with its engine punched out to 4.4 litres for a quoted 331kW.
The M3 GTS, of which 135 were made, was a track-day special with uprated suspension and aero kit, as well as a two-seat cockpit designed for race-track use - but it was still street-legal, making it an extraordinarily intense Sunday-morning hooligan tool.
The 2011 M3 CRT, limited to just 67 examples, was even more of a technical tour de force. Its bonnet was made from two carbon-fibre CFRP mouldings encasing an aramid honeycomb structure, giving it the strength of a conventional steel equivalent at about a quarter of its weight, while its bucket seats were made of from two carbon-fibre layers wrapped around a recycled-paper honeycomb, in what was probably the first use of papier-mache in a automotive application since the East German Trabant of the 1950s.
The M3 CRT also had a special rear spoiler and a special air-channeling element in the front apron, each made of the light stuff.
ONE SPECIAL NUMBER
Yet, for all the M skunk works' obsession with space-age materials and high-tech suspension components, the E92 will always be remembered for one special number: 8400 howling-mad revolutions per minute. We will not see, or hear, its like again.