If you're tired of the usual shiny paint job that appears on 99-percent of the cars on the road, a matte finish could be just what the proverbial doctor ordered. But while matte black is the common choice among the anti-gloss set, to our eyes, it can often look like someone simply forgot to apply the primer. That's why many of us around the virtual Autoblog watercooler like matte color wraps – such as those displayed by
Alfa Romeo with the red
4C Concept and
Ferrari with the green
599 HY-KERS prototype.
Once the strict purview of aftermarket mod-jobs, matte finishes are growing more maintstream as select manufacturers have begun offering them direct from the factory. Notable examples include
Mercedes-Benz (which we
checked out in Detroit this year),
Hyundai (which is launching the
Veloster Turbo in matte gray) and Maserati (which launched the
GranTurismo S Limited Edition in flat blue). But few have embraced the anti-glare approach like
BMW has with its recent succession of special edition M3s. The Bavarian automaker dubs them "Frozen," and is now coming back with an array of special editions of both the
M3 coupe and its newer, bigger brother, the
M5 sedan.
BMW is launching the M Performance Editions of both the M3 and M5 in Frozen Red, Frozen White and Frozen Blue. Black leather interiors with accent stitching color-keyed to match the exterior – along with Alcantara-wrapped steering wheels and piano black trim – come as part of the package, as do matte black alloys. Both models also come packaged with buckets full of additional equipment to make the specials even more so.
Only 30 such M3s and another 30 M5s will be made, and made available, unfortunately, exclusively in the UK. But if past Frozen editions are anything to go by, BMW is likely to find more than enough demand to make the matte red, white and blue editions available in the USA soon enough. In the meantime, you can scope 'em out in the high-res image gallery above and the press release by
scrolling below.