For years, BMW was without a dedicated sports car in its lineup. That’s finally starting to change thanks to the arrival of the 2015 i8, though the plug-in hybrid caters to a very specific niche and is unlikely to satisfy the legions of fans dying for a successor to the legendary M1.
There have been reports BMW may launch a hotter i8 complete with a twin-turbocharged V-8 instead of the plug-in system, but a senior executive at BMW M has denied the possibility.
Speaking with Autovisie, Carsten Pries, head of product management at BMW M, said the go-fast division won’t build a hotter i8 as such a car would also compete with the i8. However, he didn’t rule out BMW M using some of the i8’s technologies to build a much more capable performance machine.
Pries explained that the i8’s development required substantial investment and that it makes sense to build a second model using some of its technology like its lightweight aluminum chassis and carbon fiber reinforced plastic passenger cell. With the i8 starting at about $136k, any BMW M super sports car would likely be priced well above $150k to further differentiate the two cars.
We’d hold off writing that deposit check just yet, since there are still plenty of obstacles to the car’s development, but its arrival in the next couple of years would certainly make BMW’s centenary celebration in 2016 much more memorable. Pictured above is the BMW M1 Homage concept from 2008, built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the M1.
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