Future Vision

BMW’S Next Era Of Performance Is Petrol And Electric, All- And Rear-wheel Drive, With A Stubborn Focus On The Driver

- Ben Barry

THE NEXT ERA of performance at BMW is petrol-powered with a whack of electricity right where you want it. Styling that steals from yesteryear, mid-engine dynamics, handling that’s spooky good courtesy of electric motor torque vectoring – and, of course, straight-line ability unlike any BMW before. The daring Vision M Next concept you see here proposes to put BMW back in the supercar fight with what is essentially the second coming of i8 – but this time cranked to 11.

“The M badge means one thing: the car performs like hell,” smiles BMW M Division R&D boss Klaus Frohlich. He also says, wryly but confidently, that his ‘power PHEV’ (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) is more than unabashed motor show smut. “We are no-nonsense guys; we deliver what we promise,” he says. Expect a production equivalent to be on sale in the early 2020s.

The Vision M Next essentially takes two reference points. The first is the mid-engined, space framed BMW M1 sports car that laid exotic foundations for the M Division in 1978. The second is the radical BMW i8, which pinched M1 cues. Launched in 2014 and still on sale now, the i8 was BMW’s first plug-in hybrid, and used a three-pot turbo and twin e-motors for all-wheel drive.

Talking us round the Vision M Next, design boss Adrian van Hooydonk points to the double BMW roundels incorporated in the slim ‘Laser Wire’ rear lights and the rear screen’s three-piece glass louvres as details that nod to the M1. He also acknowledges the i8’s significance. “In a way, it’s unavoidable to reference these two cars,” he says. “The M1 is still the iconic supercar for BMW, and the i8 has been instrumental in first launching this idea of a hybrid drivetrain for a sports car”.