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Just some bits of info that have been discussed at length in the M3 forums to help ease all your collective minds as you scream 80k wtf.
First is, the e46 M3 (last gen) had a MSRP of $48k. For the e92 M3 to have a MSRP of over $60k that is a near 50% mark up over the last generation. That won't happen.
Secondly, the price has been estimated by many journalists and the guesses have been everywhere from mid 50s to 80k. BMW has not officially released a price and when they do, do you really think it will be to some KTLA reporter? I doubt it.
Third, the RS4 had a $80k price for the duration of its life time while the e46 M3 remained $48k. The RS4 has been debated and found to be in a different class than the M3. While their performance may be similar that isn't all of the equation that is automobile class. Also, BMW is not going to price match the car to Audi, it will be what they deem appropriate.
Forth, many price comparisons have been done for the current M5 (e60) to the last generation M5 (e39). As well as the price difference between the current and last gen top of the line 5 series to the M5. There was found to be an overall compounded 30% mark up from the top 5 series to the M5. Following this logic it was found that the new M3 would end up around mid $50k's.
Lastly, in terms of auto pricing in the US compared to other countries you can NOT directly use currency conversion to predict prices. It simply doesn't work like that, as some one above mentioned its more about market share and the US market has extremely lower prices than the rest of the world for automobiles. This is only exaggerated when you include lower import taxes and different available options. All other M cars' prices from BMW Europe do not match the BMW NA price through the currency conversion. Not to mention that $80 is only about 5k off from the M5 price, which would be absurd for BMW to price both cars so closely together when there is such a drastic difference between them.
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