[The Automotive Enthusiast]

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Boss of BMW M division says a supercar to rival the Audi R8 and Mercedes-AMG GT is highly desirable, but hugely expensive

With a new RS-designed Audi R8 arriving next year and the Mercedes-AMG GT also on sale early in 2015, you could forgive BMW M for feeling left out. But Carsten Priest, head of product development at the performance division, has revealed that there’s a strong desire within his sub-brand to build its own standalone supercar.

He said: “If you called any of the 550 employees at BMW M and said you’d pick up the cost for this project, we would always say: ‘Yes, let’s go for it right away’. But larger companies have to see the overall context. We always have more ideas than budget is made available – we have to see which priorities will be decided upon.”

Although there’s clearly room above the BMW i8 for a faster, more extreme, petrol-powered supercar – the huge investment in the i8 is clearly a hindrance to its production prospects. A spokesman revealed that as a rule of thumb a brand new model costs €1bn to develop, whereas the i3 and i8 were more like €2bn each.

“We have to be forward thinking, the decision has been made to establish BMW i, including an i8 supercar type of model in its line-up and that’s obviously a huge investment that’s been made,” Priest added.

He also kept the speculation alive, hinting that with a significant anniversary coming up, anything is possible: “I still remember the days of the M1. It was 46 years ago that the car was introduced. The question is at what time do you need something to reactivate what you’ve established?”

BMW introduced the M1 Hommage concept (see gallery) back in 2008, but no technical details were revealed and the model hasn’t progressed since. “The name clearly indicates what the primary purpose was, it was not meant to twist anybody’s arm,” Priest told us.

“I was excited for us to see what the reaction was like and it was overwhelmingly positive, but no one at M is surprised. Everyone would be ready, they would probably even do this in their spare time if the project order was given.”

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/bmw/890...alone-supercar

[BMW269]

Luckily they have Toyota to help them out. Toyota has everything: money, know-how and desire for such a car.

[Mr Clean]

I've been waiting for BMW to produce a supercar for more than a decade now. They have the light weight body from the i8 and more or less the design. The only thing they need to do is put a revised twin turbo V8 from the current M5/M6 coupled with an electric powertrain, take the body shell from the i8, make the rear end of the i8 less "busy" and put large air dams in the front like the M6. Shoot for 750hp with the ttv8 and electric motor BMW!

[YungDro]

I don't understand why they won't make one.. the i8 sold out like crazy.. they would make so much money from the supercar.. I just hope its a V10.

[ShocknAwe]

Originally Posted by Mr Clean

I've been waiting for BMW to produce a supercar for more than a decade now. They have the light weight body from the i8 and more or less the design. The only thing they need to do is put a revised twin turbo V8 from the current M5/M6 coupled with an electric powertrain, take the body shell from the i8, make the rear end of the i8 less "busy" and put large air dams in the front like the M6. Shoot for 750hp with the ttv8 and electric motor BMW!

Precisely. I've had the same thoughts.

N63 or similar to drive rear wheels, perhaps with an accessory belt to generate extra electricity to power motors at the front wheels. No heavy batteries. Should do well over 750 HP and I believe they already have all the tech for it. Not saying it would be cheap from that point, but it would be a starting point. Gimme a reason to be excited about new BMW development!

[pseto]

Originally Posted by YungDro

I don't understand why they won't make one.. the i8 sold out like crazy.. they would make so much money from the supercar.. I just hope its a V10.

I seriously doubt any mass-production manufacturer actually makes a profit on any supercars. Audi can make the R8 b/c they have many companies under their umbrella to offset the R&D costs (Audi, Porsche, VW, etc). BMW is still the only mass-production independent manufacturer (ask Mercedes if mergers worked for them) and has a limited product line compared to their competitors.

[bimmerbuff]

Originally Posted by pseto

I seriously doubt any mass-production manufacturer actually makes a profit on any supercars. Audi can make the R8 b/c they have many companies under their umbrella to offset the R&D costs (Audi, Porsche, VW, etc). BMW is still the only mass-production independent manufacturer (ask Mercedes if mergers worked for them) and has a limited product line compared to their competitors.

It always comes down to the profit game. Car has to be designed, road tested, crash tested, production line set up, marketing, etc.

Still, you know they would sell every one that they make.

[yousefnjr]

So according to his rule of thumb, the 2er AT, 3gt, 5gt, x4, x6, and i3 cost somewhere around 7 billion...

[templarklimek]

Sadly, I don't see BMW making an R8/911 Turbo competitor. They decided to spend R&D on I8 instead. I can't fault the I8 but I won't be buying one. I love my 14' M6 but I may end up with a 911 Targa or V10 R8. I would so love to see a M1 for 120-150Kish.

[///BMW (+)]

Get rid of the X1, X4 and stop testing the X7
Also get rid of the GT models

That should free up some funds for a super car

[TheBingoBalls]

Originally Posted by yousefnjr

So according to his rule of thumb, the 2er AT, 3gt, 5gt, x4, x6, and i3 cost somewhere around 7 billion...

Each Series would likely cost about a billion to produce/manufacture. All those cars you listed are spin-offs of an already existing chassis/platform with a different shell so the cost to bring those specific cars to market is less or helps offset the original investment of the underlying chassis.

Originally Posted by ///BMW (+)

Get rid of the X1, X4 and stop testing the X7
Also get rid of the GT models

That should free up some funds for a super car

Why? Those cars are easily a money grab for BMW. The financial investment in those cars were already made with the 1, 3-Series, X3, X5 and 7-series. The actual money spent to bring the car/nameplate to market is probably minimal relative to the premium you're paying over the car you're sharing the chassis with. If anything that helps BMW financially more than it hurts them...

[templarklimek]

Why not use the M6 platform for a 2-seater that weighs 400 pounds less with 700hp? Dodge built a 700HP car so can bmw. Using the M6 as a base would keep production costs down. Sigh, I can wish...

[GuyOh]

stop making those damn gts

[bclemans]

BMW is spending $2.2 billion to build a new plant in Mexico but cannot allocate enough resources to the M division. Either the head of M doesn't know when and how to ask for more headcount or his boss (CEO or board member) is another idiot.

[midwest 340xi 6sp]

The answer is what was stated in the article...They put their $$$ in the electric basket

[E9TOU]

They could spread the cost of the i8 by making a petrol version of it. The only reason why I presume they don't is because they don't want to cannibalize i8 sales (or its current cache) -- perhaps when the i8 is more mature?

Let's not forget that we're talking about the head of BMW M here, who would love a hi-po car to compete against Mercedes and Audi.

[bobodrink]

There are reports keep saying BMW the most profitable company in the auto industry. Made the Top 100 company list, record high sales world wide, etc, and they can't even make a supercar? I understand Audi has VW and Mercedes is a bigger corporation, but come on, stop showing off the little achievements and start making some real cars!

[Anderw]

Originally Posted by bobodrink

There are reports keep saying BMW the most profitable company in the auto industry. Made the Top 100 company list, record high sales world wide, etc, and they can't even make a supercar? I understand Audi has VW and Mercedes is a bigger corporation, but come on, stop showing off the little achievements and start making some real cars!

+1

[RingMeister01]

Originally Posted by ///BMW (+)

Get rid of the X1, X4 and stop testing the X7
Also get rid of the GT models

That should free up some funds for a super car

+1

[Anderw]

I mean I would even be happy seeing a gt3 style version of the M3 or M4 become a production model , not a limited run that never makes it to america like the CSL or GTS. To me that would be amazing. I mean while we are wishing, A all motor bmw straight six making over 450hp and lighter then 3300lbs. I'll stop but I would probably go to my local bmw dealer and kiss someone on the forehead for finally making my dreams come true. Thats a supercar to me! The funny thing is that formula has been working for porsche for years with the GT3/GT3RS. Make it $120k+ to cover these cost they can't come up with people will buy it

[fugmaglottu]

They have the light weight body from the i8 and more or less the design.

[DieGrüneHölle]

It is not that don't have the cash. It is the bean counters not seeing the profit margins in a supercar project. They are already have a huge amount of R/D cost sunk in the i-program, which isn't going to turn a profit for a while. Bean counters want easy money, like from all the GT and Gran Coupe models.

Same situation going on with the 2-series. BMW M division fighting with the bean counters on whether the next gen 2-series should be rwd or fwd.

Time to face the facts, bean counters are running BMW right now.