[Artemis]

Originally Posted by Tag

How else would they come out with a Competition model if they N55 was tapped out for power? It's not just BMW saying that, even turners such as Dinan and others said there was little to no overhead to get more power out of the N55 without adding bigger turbos, intercoolers, etc. Sure some tunes can bump the power, but they don't have to warranty the car like BMW does.
Care to expand on what parts on the M2C show CS? That's something I haven't seen or heard of.

Look for example here, Tag:

Originally Posted by Artemis

Rumor has it (surfaced in January 2016) that an N55 M2 and S55 M2 were actually developed side-by-side, or at least within a small time window. The N55 M2 was supposed to be named "M2". And that happened. The S55 M2 was supposed to be called "M2 CS", due for release around 2018. And that did not happen: things took a turn in 2018 because of EU emissions homologation requirements taking force in September 2018 in Europe. Result: exit the N55 M2 and rebaptizing the S55 M2 as "M2 Competition". During the Summer of 2018: exit + enter. In VIN decoders exactly the same pre-production S55 M2 got labelled "M2 CS" and at some other point in time "M2 Competition". We may reasonably assume that the S55 M2 (temporary dubbed "M2 CS") that turned "M2 Competition", was not supposed to be sold at near-base-M2 price. But the problem was that there was no entry-level BMW M car anymore with the N55 M2 being retired. So the M2 Competition unexpectedly 'dropped' into the entry-level BMW M car position, with an attractive price. That's also why the M2 Competition will continue to be regarded as excellent value for money. Also from a price perspective, the M2 Competition stole the 450hp 2020 M2 CS thunder: if the M2 Competition would have been priced somewhere in the middle between base M2 price and base M4 price, the 2020 M2 CS price would be a little less hard to stomach.

Though this rumor has never been confirmed, M2 Competition owners may occasionally come across car parts featuring "CS" stamped on it.

picture below from forum fellow Cannondale900 + smknjoe + cb804:

Feel free to read my long post (post #1) on an 'old' dedicated M2 Competition speculation thread that you find here. Back in the day I updated that post from time to time and explained step by step my take on the (evolving) bigger picture of what IMHO was probably going on, based on bits and pieces scattered around, surfacing over time. Trying to see structures by connecting dots/clues, as outsider, at the risk of getting it all wrong or getting fooled by outdated info, because zero official information/confirmation by BMW back in those days.

Still today I believe that - at least at some point in time - the M2 Competition that we know now, was supposed to be the original "M2 CS", a more powerful sibling with distinguished quirks, due for sale alongside the entry-level base M2 + EU regulations triggered a rather spectacular plot twist (the "M2 Competition"/"M2 CS" replacing the base M2 as entry-level BMW M car, with a price-tag reflecting (very) good value for money).