Report: BMW M-Division to potentially produce supercar by 2016 to celebrate Roundel’s centennial

Bimmer fans can get excited! It appears BMW’s infamous M-Division have dollied up the guts to finally produce what could be a very long-awaited successor to the iconic BMW M1 from the 1970s. It was only a little more than a year ago when we last spoke with BMW M’s product manager for the US, Matt Russell, and he disclosed that BMW was at the time uninterested in a supercar to focus more on the sustainable i8 and i3 projects.

Now, BMW M-Division’s global boss Friedrich Nitschke has told CAR Magazine that the new supercar, which has been internally designated the M8 and previously the M1, will be built as a flagship to commemorate BMW’s 100th birthday in 2016.

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Nitschke originally proposed that this new M8 would share its unique and advanced carbon fiber and aluminum chassis from the i8 plug-in hybrid and the i8’s 1.5L three-cylinder powertrain. The result would’ve been 349hp and 405 lb-ft of torque with a 0-62 time similar to the i8’s 4.6 seconds.

But they completely ditched that idea in favor of a twin-turbocharged V8 producing 600hp, which will drop that time to three seconds flat with a definite top run of 200 plus. Briefly surveying BMW M’s current stable, it will most likely be an evolved version of the current M5’s twin-turbocharged 4.4L S63 V8 if one were to postulate sensibly.

The future M8 to be is also said to be lightweight, allowing for blistering performance. However, no official green light has been shed from BMW’s chairman, Norbert Reithofer—an individual described as not being a sports car aficionado.

Roundel enthusiasts would also kindly note a bit of sacrilege as the future M8-to-be might be confused with BMW’s one-off concoction based off of the E31 8-Series from the early 1990s. It donned the 750il’s M70 5.0L V12, except it was heavily modified to 6.0L for an output of nearly 580hp.

Either way, I find this to be quite exciting as this has been something that many individuals in the autosphere have often dreamt of happening. And it seems to be finally nearing fruition!

– By: Chris Chin

Source: CAR