BMW BLOG

Well Geneva is upon us. We all know what this means. Tons of new beautiful cars whether they be concepts, custom built to order cars or new cars that will come out soon. For BMW they have shown the E88 1-Series (E88-convertible), the 1-Series performance upgrades through your local BMW dealer and the new E93 M3 (E93-convertible). One of the biggest questions on my mind is will the E93 M3 fix the problems that the E46 M3 convertible had? The older M3 convertible was a little too heavy and slow when compared to the coupe, and also lost a good bit of frame rigidity. Motorsport says that they have corrected this issue, and that the new hard-top will be the perfect fit for the E93 M3, and be as sporty as possible. I don’t really think that ///M would put something on their cars that didn’t work great. All that aside, it sure does look good to me.

Another big question on my mind is if BMW is going to try and cash in on the success that Audi has been having with the new R8. At Geneva a new V12 TDI Le Mans version was revealed, and man is it breathtaking. The V12 Turbo-Diesel produces 500hp and 737lb-ft of torque. BMW could make another M1 to compete with this car, but would they?

BMW Motorsport Vice President Gerhard Richter said when asked by Edmonds Inside Line, if ///M would build a supercar like the Audi R8, “That's a very difficult question to answer… We could build a car that used the technical aspects of the M3 or M6 but clothe it in a new body, but such a car would be more expensive and no more fun to drive. That is the reason why we're hesitant to build such a car, although as an engineer I'd love to do it.”

The M6 has been a great success for BMW and could no doubt be even better if it received a mid-engine platform to become a successor to the M1. But, the biggest question is could it sell for BMW? We all know that they aren’t too keen on doing what the most popular people do at different times, but maybe it’s time to try. It would be a great idea to throw BMW’s new twin-turbo V8 into a mid-engine car. With its 400hp and 450lb-ft of torque it would no doubt be an amazing car to drive.

When Mercedes and McLaren came together to make the SLR and Porsche made the Carrera GT, BMW was left to be the only one not doing anything to compete, but BMW was smart, they knew those cars weren’t going to be commercial successes and wouldn’t prove much more than that big horsepower makes a fast car.

What do you guys think?

Article by Josh from RawAutos.com