No Specifics, But It Will Come
There have been many rumors of a standalone BMW M car. However, BMW never said whether or not there was any validity to those rumors. Now BMW M CEO Marku Flasch has given the world confirmation that the company is working on a car.
In an interview with Top Gear, the BMW M boss said, “We have some very concrete plans for something new.” Flasch didn’t talk specifics. He did say that this wouldn’t be the first standalone M car. The M1 was built between 1978 and 1981. Flasch did say that the car in the works isn’t definitely going to be a modern-day M1.
Flasch said that making a modern-day M1 is an option but that it is “not the only option.” This could mean that BMW M is thinking of doing a modern M1, but it could also mean that the company has something completely different.
The closest thing that BMW M has right now to a standalone model is the Vision M Next concept. It has a hybridized powertrain. A standalone M car could be a hybrid or fully-electric model. Flasch made it clear that he plans only to use electrification when the addition would “offer an advantage in terms of character, [and] in terms of performance.”
So, basically, we now know that BMW’s M division is working on its own standalone model, but that things are just in the beginning stages. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.
