“We see this clearly from shoppers. Some come to me and say ‘no, the M guys don’t need this’. I say no, watch out, as a result of we do a number of buyer research right here. M clients need, merely, one of the best and highest efficiency you may get.
“And the second you get right into a automobile that’s one megawatt in efficiency and you may management each particular person wheel, I can assure you there could be one thing mistaken with the engine sound in the event that they nonetheless miss this, however not in how the automobile behaves. It’s unbelievable.”
Weber’s sentiments echo these of BMW M boss Frank van Meel, who advised Autocar final yr that, when revealing any electrical efficiency automobile, he desires clients to say: “That is loopy, I did not see that coming.”
“The story of the M3 is eternal,” stated van Meel. “Each time we modify the story of the engine, from four-cylinder to six-cylinder to eight-cylinder to six-cylinder and a turbocharger, the story continues.
“Perhaps it should go electrical – but when it does, it should all the time be an M3. Regardless of the powertrain, you need to all the time be capable of drive our vehicles and know they’re M vehicles. We’ve got stood the check of time for 50 years and can proceed to take action.”
His feedback counsel BMW bosses should not involved in regards to the attraction of its high-performance merchandise waning as they go electrical, Neither, it appears, are its clients. “We’ve simply been speaking to clients and the suggestions is that 90-95% don’t care what route we tackle powertrain. They only need an M automobile. Sure, some say that if we don’t do V8s, they’re out however that’s okay: I respect that,” stated van Meel.
