BMW's next M3 could come with - get this - three turbochargers, if recent reports on the webnet are anything to go by.
The new M3 is due in 2014 and - presumably as a way of placating those upset at the loss of naturally aspirated M cars - might well feature a trio of turbos to help the expected 3.3-litre six-cylinder motor produce around 450bhp.
So how would it work? Well, apparently two of the turbochargers would work in the conventional way, providing extra puff courtesy of recycled exhaust gases, but the third would run on electricity.
Now, we're not exactly of an engineering bent at PHHQ, but we suspect that this would be in order to achieve a power boost right from the get-go, before the conventional turbos have had time to spool-up. Knowing the way the car industry is these days, there's probably some sort of 'green' motivation behind all this, too. But we don't really care about all that, do we?
Either way, the idea of an electricity-powered turbocharger creating a tri-turbo M3 sounds like an intriguing, if far-fetched idea. But it comes from the creative news brains over at Auto Express, so if it's wrong remember you heard it there first...