Hartge announces V10 3 Series monster (UPDATED)

Newswheel staff :: 23 November 2005 :: Filed under Saloon, Hartge, Hartge H50, Europe & UK, US

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550bhp apparently goes into BMW 3

Keeping up the fine German tradition of utter car-tuning madness, Hartge has dropped the BMW M5’s monumental 5-litre V10 lump into the E90 vintage 3 Series. Of course, the temptation to fiddle with the engine for the new H50 could not be resisted, so power jumps by 50bhp for a rather sickening grand total of 550bhp.

Needless to say, the H50 gets the usual cacophony of styling and aero upgrades as well as alloys big enough to scare small children (that’ll be 20 inches, then). The H50 also brings a highly dubious new styling twist in the form of a two-tone paint job. It’s probably an attempt to emphasise the “thermodynamically optimised” and aggressively vented composite bonnet. But it’s pretty ghastly all the same.

Other highlights include a seven-speed SMG robot gearbox and the deletion of BMW’s electronic speed limiter. Consequently, this is a 320kph (199mph) compact four door saloon. Which should be enough to shave a few minutes off that daily commute. No pricing or availability information has been released, but Hartge has said estate and coupe variants of the H50 are currently under development.

Update:
Have a close look at the large image linked below. Unless we are very much mistaken, Hartge has indulged in a little photoshoppery, presumably to enable them to announce the car before a demonstration vehicle has been completed. Observe how the lighting on the alloys doesn’t match of the scene in general (and also how the wheels appear to be in sharper focus that the rest fot he car), the aliasing on the “Hartge” lettering on the passenger door which appears to have been inserted into the picture and the vents on the bonnet that are very fishy indeed. In fact, it very much looks like all the black paintwork is a result of mouse and keyboard trickery. No doubt Hartge is well on the way to building the H50, but we’d prefer to be looking at the real thing.

Click image for supersize version: