But it’ll likely herald the death of the i8. Boo.
German marque BMW have long skirted and flirted with the idea of supercars. Their most solid attempt was back in 1978 when, after having ‘rescued’ and completed the project from engineering & manufacturing partner Lamborghini, BMW produced the M1. The M1 was only sold for a total of 3 years with just 453 cars built, 20 of which were racing versions for the BMW M1 Procar Championship, but excluding 7 Lamborghini-engineered prototypes.
In fact in the years leading up to the reintroduction of the 8-Series, it was rumoured that the badge would be reserved for a mid-engined supercar of sorts. This was compounded by the arrival of the i8 hybrid sports car which was assumed to be a precursor to a properly-fast, properly-potent supercar. That assumption has since been proven wrong, with the i8 remaining the only such BMW with that layout today, and the 8-Series coming back true-to-form as a big grand-tourer.
But it seems that not all is lost. Comments made by the product planning boss in Munich suggests that not only is he keen on such a car, but that BMW sees sense in such a model too.
“If you are an engineer, once in your life, you want to make a super-sports car. I think partial electrification will enable that. If we have these very compact & powerful electric driving units, if we have a carbon fibre chassis like the i8 for example, and we still have high performance engines, then if you do it cleverly, you can combine them into a real performance package.” — Klaus Fröhlich, Management Boardmember (Product Development), BMW AG
Fröhlich continued his speech drawing comparisons & context from the current crop of “supercars” (he used that word specifically). McLaren and Ferrari have both adopted the stance that their cars will be electrified by 2020, but also lamented that current electric motor technology means that a plug-in hybrid powertrain would be somewhat hampered by the weight of the motors and their necessary batteries.
“If you see, this e-motor in a car which can give you in milliseconds the push formerly found in a V8 engine, then you can have a very sporty feel from this ‘power PHEV,’ and it fits perfectly to the M brand.” – Klaus Fröhlich, Management Boardmember (Product Development), BMW AG
Moving on to the M brand, it’s clear to see why a halo supercar might be necessary to get brand purists to move onwards into the world of electrification. M cars are to this day strictly combustion machines, though continued tightening of emissions regulations globally means that electrification is inevitable if BMW wants to keep M relatable. If there were an M-badged supercar sitting atop the BMW tree, it may be easier for fans to see that electrification (despite the added weight and complexity that it entails) does not explicitly spell the end of driving fun.
“M will also be electric in the future. But we will work very heavily on partial electrification, for M cars. This is because they do not only need acceleration on the straights; they have to drive around corners and race tracks, so weight is an issue, and electric vehicles still carry a weight penalty for range.” — Klaus Fröhlich, Management Boardmember (Product Development), BMW AG
There are big changes ahead for the greater BMW range too, it seems. BMW utilises two platforms currently for all of its series production cars (with the exception of the i3 and i8), both of which are capable to run pure-combustion, plug-in hybrid, and full-electric powertrain options from the get-go. This affords the company greater flexibility in specifying their products for different markets, allowing them to more accurately service customer demand based on prevailing legislation in each market, reports Autocar. This means EVs where they’re cheaper and “power PHEVs” and M-Performance models where those will do well.
Either way, BMW’s continued zeal to plug every niche and address every gap continues. You can read here about our disdain that Munich is also considering a BMW X8 to cap their SUV range, using precisely the same product brief that gave us the new X flagship, the X7.
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