BMW's Vision for the future of M

The announcement of BMW's i brand doesn't spell the beginning of the end for the company's high-performance M Cars; not according to the company's CFO, Anita Tonini.

During a welcome to journalists from around the world, in Spain for the launch of the new M5, Tonini cited the high-performance sedan as an example of the M Division's growing focus on environmentally responsibility and sustainability.

"At the IAA Frankfurt motor show, we've just recently introduced two new concept cars of the BMW sub-brand 'i' — the i3 and the i8. Both models really caused quite a stir..." she said, in translation from her native German.

"Some of you may be tempted to ask yourselves the question: 'what will actually happen with the other sub-brand of BMW? Will BMW continue to introduce new BMW M models? Does BMW M have a future?'

"The new BMW M5 is a clear commitment; we are proud of our sub-brand that holds the strongest and most powerful letter in the world. BMW M is — and will remain — a fixed element of our product portfolio. We intend to continue building sporty, high-performance automobiles that set true benchmarks in our industry.

"Both sub brands — BMW i and BMW M — unite sportiness with efficiency. They do this, however, in a different way. They are opposing poles of the BMW brand; both sub brands are important to us. They keep the BMW brand in balance."

Ms Tonini went on to mention the M5's turbocharged V8 to illustrate the M Division's focus on enhancing fuel efficiency and reducing emissions. Despite developing 412kW and 680Nm, the new engine is claimed by the company to be 30 per cent more frugal and cleaner-running than the naturally-aspirated V10 of the previous model.

But what's the longer-term prognosis for the performance division? While the new i brand has certainly hogged some of the limelight in recent times, will it ultimately upstage M? After all, the i8 will reach 100km/h from a standing start in 4.9 seconds and is electronically limited to a top speed of 250km/h — meaning it's no slouch. That's supercar performance not that far removed from the M5's acceleration time of 4.45 seconds — with a 412kW twin-turbo V8 — yet the i8 returns an anticipated fuel consumption figure of 3.0L/100km.

BMW Australia's Head of Corporate Communications, Piers Scott, placed the difference between the two sub brands in context for motoring.com.au during the course of the M5 launch.

"In a more nuts-and-bolts, technology-sharing perspective, M's philosophy remains what it has always been — which is to develop cars that are extremely engaging and enthralling to drive," he said. "Some of the technologies developed feed into the conventional production BMW models; i will be exactly the same, i is focused on innovative, pioneering technological drive concepts with a zero emissions future in mind — and some of those technologies could easily find their way into standard production models of BMW.

"So they're the two extremes, with some overlap. It sort of looks like a Venn diagram, with the big BMW roundel in the middle, M on one side with a little bit of overlap, and i on the other side with a bit of overlap."

In other words, i augments the whole BMW brand, it doesn't succeed M for a more environmentally-conscious future. But that still leaves questions unanswered in respect of M's future. Over at Mercedes-Benz, AMG is known to have developed an EV from the SLS Gullwing, but BMW has no such M-branded alternative-energy hero to offer the public along the same lines. It does have the i8, however.

"Our decision to launch BMW i as a sub-brand was to group these innovative technologies with a zero-emissions horizon in mind, under this one technological banner," said Scott. "So the point being, you've got the bookends of the i3 and the i8; a zero-emissions, fully-electric concept, urban megacity vehicle and a high-performance plug-in hybrid 2+2 sports car at the other.

"The M Division will continue to do what it has always done, which is to remain focused on its M philosophy and will adopt any technology that helps to deliver that, but no, we won't be looking to mix and match across those [sub-brands].

"Whilst there could be some technology sharing — brake-energy regeneration for example, has found its way into M models, and some of the more performance enhancements developed by M have come back the other way — but no. All our strive for reducing tailpipe emissions and zero-emissions technology is all done under the banner [of] i."

Particularly in light of the speech delivered in Frankfurt last month by Daimler AG chairman Dr Dieter Zetsche, a future hydrogen society would appear to hold the key to both i and M sub brands remaining relevant in future, despite Munich seemingly more concerned about the development of battery-electric vehicles. Is BMW working on fuel cell systems for its cars, we asked Scott?

"Not on fuel cell technology currently," he replied. "The Hydrogen 7s were a demonstration of the fact that we could build an internal combustion engine that ran on hydrogen as well as petrol, so obviously there was a crucial practicality element there, which was while the infrastructure was still being developed, there was no compromise or penalty associated with having an alternative fuel vehicle — you could run it on petrol."

But hydrogen combustion engines, as seen in the BMW Hydrogen 7 and the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE, are less efficient than fuel cell stacks at converting energy from hydrogen for drive systems. Does hydrogen combustion — as opposed to fuel cells — remain viable?

"The technology is there," says Scott, "the barriers are more on the infrastructure [side] and to what extent it has government support — because it is simply not an option right now. We've demonstrated that the technological barrier has been overcome, but we're a long way away from having hydrogen — and a suitable supply and adequate delivery structure. The other thing is for it to be truly beneficial in an environmental sense, we need to look at how the hydrogen is produced in the first place. That is something we don't have control over."

Hydrogen resupply would have to be relatively more plentiful for a vehicle parc of combustion-engined cars than for fuel cell vehicles. And increasingly, it looks more and more like FCVs have the lead on hydrogen combustion vehicles. The cost of development is coming down, for a start, although Scott argues that BMW has already spent the money to develop hydrogen combustion — and little more needs to be spent. But as to the cost of developing the Hydrogen 7 for production — in contrast with a fuel cell vehicle…?

"I couldn't tell you how they would compare — other than the fact that there has been substantial investment already in the conventional combustion engine technology, and that money's been spent…" says Scott. But the BMW PR bloke submits that "Industry-wise though, fuel cell [technology] now seems to be the more likely outcome."

So while the Hydrogen 7 has been an interesting exercise, it looks like a technological dead end, when the rest of the world is already committing to fuel cell vehicles for long-range touring in the future — and a company such as BMW stands or falls by its reputation for producing powerful and capable touring cars for high speeds and long distances.

Scott steers clear of any talk about buying in fuel cell technology or developing the technology in-house, but does agree that hydrogen is the future fuel of choice for open-road journeys or high-torque requirements.

"That is when [hydrogen] has a potential application… when it is not your primary daily commuter vehicle, but when it is exactly for that type of journey. The other thing is that obviously for driving extremely long distances and anything that involves a substantial amount of weight, EVs have their limitations."

The company is known to have been investigating fuel-cell technology for its upcoming front-drive model. That project, conducted in conjunction with the Munich Technical University, was aimed at developing a hybrid-drive small car combining a small internal-combustion engine with a hydrogen fuel cell and an electric motor. Not exactly an appropriate development for a future M5...

Still, a fuel cell system could theoretically replace the internal-combustion engine in the i8, thus lending itself to both the i brand and performance enhancements from M. But it would all depend on scalability and packaging.

"I wouldn't say it's going to be hard, but certainly the vehicle architecture of the i brand [models] is unique for electric vehicles," Scott responds. "So the DriveLife concept as it has been called, constitutes two components essentially: the drive module, which is the chassis — which is comprised of the battery pack (and that is designed in such a way that the weight of the batteries is as low as possible) — and a single-structure carbonfibre-reinforced plastic passenger cell that sits on top of it.

"That is designed specifically to accommodate an electric drivetrain; that's not to say it would be impossible to convert that to hydrogen fuel cell, but it has been designed specifically with electric drivetrains in mind."

At the current level of technology, fuel cells and hydrogen tanks need SUV-style packaging to be accommodated within a car, without impact on passenger comfort. Scott does see a future for the technology in larger cars nevertheless, not just SUVs.

"The application of hydrogen generally is probably going to lend itself more to the larger cars — not so much from the packaging and vehicle architecture perspective, but more in terms of how the vehicles are used. Hydrogen has greater application for X5s and Tourings for lugging the family and the dog and the boat away for the weekend — rather than your daily commute."

The long and the short of it is this: i8 demonstrates that BMW can continue building high-performance, effortless touring cars for long-distance travel, even with a plug-in hybrid as a base — and as long as the company can do that, so can the M Division modify, enhance and tune those same cars for even higher performance and driving enjoyment.

But what will happen after fossil fuels run dry? That's anybody's guess…

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