BMW's M Division Is Working On A "Dream Car For Collectors"

Something Should Succeed The Skytop

Cast your mind back a decade to 2015, when the F82 M4 GTS was but a Pebble Beach concept. At that point, cars that cost seven figures were scarce, and Bimmers that cost six and didn’t have a 7 on the back were non-existent. But nowadays, after selling every example of the – ahem – $750,000BMW 3.0 CSL, getting several requests about the Concept Touring Coupe, and then finding resounding success with the Skytop and Speedtop, the Bavarians are poised to build on that momentum with something new, reports BMW Blog. What exactly remains to be seen, but it’s described as a “dream car” that will be “for collectors.” It seems BMW is making hay while the sun shines.

Production Crews Know It’s Coming, Just Not When

Sylvia Neubauer, Vice President of Customer, Brand, and Sales at M, reportedly told BMW Blog that BMW’s small-series team had approved a limited-run M:

“We are discussing things, but we need to find the right time to do it. Be assured, we share the same dream and passion. We have been talking with Adrian van Hooydonk [Head of BMW Group Design] and the team who does the small series planning, and there is a slot reserved for BMW M.”

As is typically the case with these sorts of projects, you need to build suspense. You don’t hear the name of Oppenheimer, nor that it’ll be shot on IMAX, before you hear that Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy are working on a new project. Getting the media talking about what the producers have in mind builds excitement, and in this case, it gets potential buyers calling to ask for a build slot.

What To Expect, And What Not To Hope For

BMW has ruled out the idea of reviving the M1 supercar. If it’s to be a true supercar like the Audi R8 was (and may again be), it would need a unique chassis, or something close to it, and BMW is still a massive company built on efficiency, where economies of scale need to make sense. If this project is to be a stepping stone to building a department that could make an M1 happen, it needs to be financially viable, and there’s still only so much money you can ask for an M. Thus, we can be sure that it will be based on something BMW already makes, which effectively rules out a supercar, but only for the time being, as Neubauer hints:

“We always think of where there might be potential markets for the future. Many times, we are doing this together with our [BMW] AG colleagues because we need some base car to then turn it into a high-performance model. There are some ideas we are discussing with our AG colleagues at the moment.”

Our best guess? BMW is still deciding what to do for its 8 Series replacement. Some rumors have suggested that the 4 Series and the 8 Series will meet in the middle to become the reborn 6 Series, which is exactly what Mercedes did with the E-Class and C-Class coupes when it came up with the CLE. Once the bean counters decide where to go, and the M division knows what it has to work with, then – and only then – will we start to hear rumblings of what is really going on. Until then, anything is possible in this market – especially when there are third parties that can do the hard work of producing a bespoke chassis. Then again, working with a third party (Lamborghini) is what burned BMW the first time it tried to enter the supercar space. Whatever the special model may be, it can’t be poorly timed, and it can’t be overpriced. BMW hasn’t missed in a while, so fingers crossed.