BMW’s new M CEO, Markus Flasch is ready to take the sportscar division into the future. For years, BMW executives have shot down the possibility of a standalone supercar from M, but Flasch might have different plans for us. In a recent interview with us, on the sideline of the BMW M Festival in Canada, the M boss hinted that he’s not opposed to creating bespoke M cars.
This week, at the 2019 IAA, Herr Flasch spoke to the Top Gear on the topic.
“Standalone M cars are obviously something that my team likes to work on,” says M boss Markus Flasch. “It wouldn’t be the first time; we did it with the M1 many years ago. We have some very concrete plans for something new.”
As expected, the UK journalists pressed for answers. Could this mean a mid-engine supercar?
“Not necessarily,” says Flasch. “That’s an option. But it’s not the only option.”
While a BMW M supercar seems closer than ever before, it is likely that the M Division will take the hybrid or fully-electric route.
For the same publication, Flasch said that “It’s too early to talk about propulsion.”
He did mention that his team and the BMW i team meet on a weekly basis, with ideas being shared from both sides.
So why not a full-bore rival to the AMG One, asked Top Gear.
“It’s a fascinating idea as we have a lot of competitive engineers, so a halo car is always a thrilling idea. But M is so strong – 2019 will be our best year of sales ever – the brand doesn’t need a halo car. Business- and image-wise I’m a little bit mixed about if this is necessary. I like the idea, but it needs to do a job.”
Just last month, we learned that the BMW Vision M Next will head for production in early 2023, but it’s unclear if this is the supercar hinted by the M boss.
If so, it better not look like that awful Concept 4.
The more electric the car is the larger the grill it needs to cool all those batteries, says BMW.
They NEVER said anything like that. Shut up
You have not been observing the trend very astutely.
PMS day for you today?
It’s not like they don’t need to make AMG project one rival, they can’t. BMW has not been successful in any racing series of late and they haven’t participated in F1 V6 hybrid era. Building a halo car would be ridiculous at this time because they have nothing to show.
Daddy, what is DTM and Formula E?
None of those series are even close to what Porsche did in LMP or what Mercedes does in F1. Remember when DTM was only run by Audi and BMW because Mercedes no longer felt the need to prove themselves?
Blah blah blah. keep your ignorance for yourself
true. if anything i suggest bmw should be resourceful of their motor sports more often.
Still they are major racing series. MB just dropped out, much like BMW did from F1, like Ford and Audi did from FIA. It happens all the time.
“Bespoke”. Haha.
(To American English ears that sounds funny.)
Tough to find the right word for it…maybe one-off production?
Bespoke is correct and more precise.
One-off would be more akin to the forgotten Custom moniker.
AMG Project One = Hypercar. Not sure anyone asked BMW to make a hypercar. SUPERCAR is what people ask for. Stick in electric motors with turbocharged inline-6 cylinders. Specs of hybrid 4 cyl M Next concept car is rather entrylevel-ish for its segment. Go with hybrid 6 cyl. instead. With BMW driving dynamics, good materials, i8-like design, futureproof tech, everyday useability at reasonable price etc, it’d make business sense as well as boost brand image. Previously didn’t but now really starting to respect Corvette. They waste no time and just go for it.