Egyptian Refuses to Pay $150,000 for BMW 1M Coupe, Shoe-horns M3 V8 into a 120d Coupe

If you live in the States and can justify spending a little under $50,000 on a car, the $47,010 BMW 1M Coupe (335hp) is a sound choice for those looking for a fast and fun to drive bimmer as it only costs $7,710 more the $39,300 135i Coupe (300hp) and $13,090 less than the $60,100 M3 Coupe (414hp).
However, in other parts of the world where governments apply ridiculously high taxes on cars, not even the 1M Coupe is a reasonable choice. Take Egypt for example.


According to 1addicts forum member “hatembmw”, the 1M Coupe costs some US$150,000 in Egypt because of the insane taxes! Who can blame him for not wanting to pay that much money for BMW's entry-level M model?
“Hatembmw” settled on a different solution: he took a 120d Coupe, stripped it down and swapped the four-cylinder diesel engine with a 414hp 4.0-liter V8 from the latest M3!
The tune, which was completed in less than a month and cost him around US$45,000, also included the 1M's wider fenders and bumpers, side skirts, mirrors, and wheels, plus uprated suspension and brake bits.
You can check out the car in the photos and the videos that follow below.

[From Hatembmw's posting]
"Complete mods cost around $45,000. In Egypt we pay 300% custom charges on imported vehicles above 2000 cc, which makes a 1m cost a fortune to buy here. (more than $150,000 custom charges+ original car price) so we had the idea of having a standard e82 and fitting it with a bigger engine."
"The V8 dream came to mind since the whole car is gonna be stripped. I thoght the V8 has more roar sound than the turbo six 1m engine, more hp , and of course more challenge. The idea was thoroughly studied and thank god, it went perfect."

Story References: 1addicts via Autoweek