It seems unnecessary

Lately I've been hung up on manufacturers giving their car models names that really are not needed. Today it is BMW's new 4-series. Now for those who don't know, the 4-series is the new 3-series coupe. To have a different name to a car with a different body does sound smart, until you realize it is the exact same car as the 3-series. 

So what is the point in renaming a car that you're not going to change anyway? In the case of the M3 it's nice to have a different name for the coupe, the M4. But it still isn't a big challenge to call it the M3 coupe now isn't it. 

This even happened to the to 1-series as well. It's no longer the 1-series coupe it's the 2-series. It does make sense that the odd numbers (1,3,5,7-series) are saloons and the even numbers (2,4,6-series) are coupes. But let's not forget that there is a four-door version of the 6-series. 

So why did they do this? Probably because now BMW can release four-door versions of the 2- and 4-series'. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened. 

BMW M4. 426 hp from a 3.0 litre twin turbo straight 6.

From this photo you can see it's a 4-series. But what if you couldn't see the back?

And the 2-series. There probably will be an M2 somewhere in the future.