America's BMW 3 Series Is More Powerful Than Germany's

Last week, BMW revealed the2023 BMW 3 Series, and with some subtle styling changes and the inclusion of more tech, this contender looks like it will once againbe the benchmark of the segment。There's plenty to love about the new car, and although it hasn't received a bump in power, it remains an excellent car. Interestingly, however, BMW has given global markets a slightly less powerful M340i than we get in the US, and this was the case before the facelift too. While our B58 straight-six turbo generates 382 horsepower, the rest of the world is still stuck with 369 hp. So why the difference?

Well, Europe has much more stringent emissions regulations than we do in the land of the free, althoughthat could change someday soon。Our best guess is that tightening emissions regulations required BMW to alter something on the exhaust system, stifling the engine somewhat. Whatever the case, BMW has not yet provided updated acceleration figures for the 2023 model, which could suggest that the European car is no quicker than before either. For reference, the US-spec 2022 model can do 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds with RWD and in 4.1 seconds with AWD. To be fair, we don't expect our M340i to be any quicker than before either.

We reached out to BMW for an answer and received the response: "In Europe, we are integrating (due to legal emission requirements) the so-called GPF, the gasoline particulate filter. This filter increases the back pressure in the exhaust system and reduces, therefore, the power output slightly."