BMW Vision M Next concept is dead… or is it?

This isn’t the first concept car to not make production, so why are we still hoping that things will change?

Here’s hoping that 40 long years after the BMW M1, a hybrid M supercar could be incoming

by : Daryl Lee

For some 40 years now, BMW’s M Division, the people who sprinkle fairy dust on ‘standard’ BMWs and turn them into lean, mean track machines, haven’t really had a mid-engined supercar to call their own.

More to the point, M Division hasn’t had a bespoke model to call its own (along the lines of the Mercedes-AMG SLS or GT) since 1981 when the M1 ceased production. There was the i8, but it doesn’t count because, while it was a mid-engined sports car, the world never got one fettled by this particular team.

And the world really is due for a bona fide M Division supercar. While we don’t know for sure yet if the Vision M Next will ever make production, the concept car, first shown in 2019, offers us a taster of what to expect, and from M Division in general.

Unless something drastically changes, it’s a pretty safe bet the next-generation M1 will be a plug-in hybrid, likely using an evolution of the technology used in the i8. It’ll be a lot more powerful than the i8, for starters, with 600hp coming from its four-cylinder engine augmented with the power of an electric motor. Oh, and the Vision M Next is supposed to be able to run 100km on electric power alone, if that sort of thing matters to you.

Vision M Next will be a lot more powerful than the i8, with 600hp coming from its four-cylinder engine augmented with the power of an electric motor.

But speed isn’t the only thing that the millennial M1 will have to have. It’ll also have to be remarkably clever, and where it advances the supercar game is how BMW says autonomous driving functions will be included with it. It’s all well and good to have a storming supercar, but sometimes, traffic jams can get a little wearing.

A supercar you can drive… or not. Sounds good to us.

BMW