Why there won’t be a BMW M hypercar

While arch-rival Mercedes-AMG hogs the headlines with its new multi-million dollar Project ONE hypercar, the boss of BMW’s M high-performance division insists it’s not interested in developing such a high-priced limited-run vehicle.

Nor will M develop an equivalent to AMG’s GT family of sports cars, which are based on a bespoke chassis.

Instead, Frank van Meel says BMW M wants a fleet of fast cars that all act as halos for the range.

Just 275 examples of the Formula One-based Project ONE coupe will be built, with the Australian pricing set at $3.5 million before luxury car tax imposts.

“We are trying to make cars for customers and trying to reach as many customers as possible,” said van Meel. “To build a car for 200 people would not be our main target.

“Instead of having one flagship very small, but let’s say very highlighted flagship, we would rather have an armada of very fast vessels to attack a broader range of possible customer groups.”

That means M will continue to base its range on established BMW mainstream models, developing the traditional M variants and the less expensive and powerful M Performance versions.

M is in the midst of a model-range expansion that will soon include an X3 M for the first time. That is expected to be followed by an X4 M for the first time too.

An M8 version of the new 8 Series coupe has also been confirmed and broke cover in Frankfurt as the GTE World Endurance Championship racer. M will also do a high-performance versions of the forthcoming 8 Series convertible and Gran Coupe.

In 2016, M sold a record 68,000 vehicles, split roughly evenly between M and M Performance models. Van Meel is sure it will top that number again in 2017.

There are varying reasons for developing a GT equivalent, nominally a modern-day version of the mid-engined M1 of 1978-81. But the official message is it isn’t a priority.

“It could be possible because we do have the engineering power,” revealed van Meel. “But on the other hand, if you look at the tradition of M we came from being the first company picking a series production car and making a high-performance car out of that.

“That was copied by a lot of other companies, also AMG. That’s what we stand for and what we grew with and what is expected from us.

“Of course, there is always the question ‘can’t you do this or that because someone else has this or that’. I don’t see the need for M to make such a very niche product, because I think also M is the ultimate driving machine and I don’t need something to make clear that we really are the ultimate driving machine.

“We have M2 to X6 M to say that is the ultimate driving machine. I don’t need a halo car to bring out the message.”

But van Meel, an engineer, revealed on a personal level he would love to do a supercar or come up with a new-generation M1.

“Of course, it’s a dream for every engineer to do such a thing, we are always dreaming about something like that,” he admitted.

“I would really love to do another M1 but again it is first things first,” he added. “We are still working on broadening our product portfolio, bringing more special models and not attacking these ‘like to do that because I can’ things.

“We have many other things to do right now.”