The Head of BMW M, Markus Flasch, has told journalists last week during a telephone conference that there are no plans for BMW's M division to offer front-wheel drive models.
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There is no front-wheel drive M car and [that] will stay this way,” Flasch declared.
While the 1 Series and X2 have adopted transverse layouts with the M Performance Automobile variants (M135i and X2 M35i, respectively) offering more performance-orientation and all-wheel drive, the portfolio stops at those M Performance offerings, as BMW M have no plans to create full-fledged M Models out of the two platforms.
“At the moment we have no plans to do high-performance versions [of 1 Series or X2],” Flasch explained.
“We believe that the M Performance cars have enough power and enough performance. And the ratio of what we would have to put in, into developing high-performance cars in these segments, to the result that we could achieve does not really make sense at the present moment.”
On the topic of small rear-wheel drive models, Flasch mentions that he is "confident" that the M2 successor by virtue, will cater to existing M140i drivers.
It is implied through this statement, that Flasch is confirming the M2 will remain rear-wheel drive, while not adopting the transverse architecture of the 1 Series platform.
BMW M's current customer portfolio represents a diverse mix of driving preferences and styles.
As far as powertrains go, Flasch mentions the differing preferences between an M5 driver and an M3 driver, for example.
It's hard to ignore demand for all-wheel drive in larger M-cars, such as the M5 and M SAVs/SACs, but there’s also a place for rear-wheel drive in smaller M-cars like the M2.
“We also know that on the M5, the current model with the switchable [drive], people hardly ever switch off the all-wheel drive,” Flasch explains.
M5 owners are generally long-term M customers, who have matured from the dynamic younger years of track driving and drifting.
But M3 buyers, however, are generally more likely to be into that type of driving, Flasch indicated.
Especially if it’s a customer’s first M-car, an M3 may spend its time in the garage on the weekdays, only to be taken out on more special occasions, and provided the weather is optimal for such occasions.
For those customer types, all-wheel drive is not essential.
“Rear-wheel drive makes more sense for these cars because they’re taken out in good weather for special occasions,” says Flasch.
Naturally, this goes into a conversation about the upcoming M3, which is rumored to be offered with M xDrive (all-wheel drive) a la F90 M5.
While Flasch has driven the upcoming G80 M3 in both RWD and AWD configurations during testing, he stops short of confirming that both drivetrain will be made available for sale.
“I can’t confirm it [RWD and AWD M3], but I’ve driven cars,” Flasch admits.
“We were able to take over the entire drivetrain concept that we offer in the M5, and we are able to do rear-wheel drive version as well, plus manual transmission."
“I won’t disclose today how we configure those opportunities, but we can do whatever the markets globally demand."
“We got it. We can’t confirm that we’ll bring it, but we got it.”
It seems that while both versions are being developed and tested, whether they both make it to production will depend on whether or not the project managers and other executives within BMW can find profitability and demand within the scope of sales and production.
Flasch also revealed a few other details of interest to BMW M enthusiasts, including mentioning a further distancing of the M-cars from M Performance models in the future, with design features that will be more radical.
Additionally, it was reaffirmed that the "GTS" moniker seen on the E92 M3 GTS and F82 M4 GTS will be retired.
M-models of that caliber will be badged CS and even CSL in the future.
Source:
motoring.com