BMW’s M division goes electrical. Final week the corporate teased an all-electric model of its iconic M3, set to hit showrooms in 2027. Now, the corporate is exhibiting off one other all-electric M automobile: A prototype primarily based on the first-generation M2 coupe.
The automobile, internally referred to as The Beast, was conceived by a small group of engineers in 2018 on a “mission to discover what’s attainable,” in response to Michael Sailer, one of many crew’s dynamics engineers.
The automobile appears to be like pretty inventory on the surface, save for a few tow hooks, a ducktail trunk spoiler, and a set of gold-painted brake calipers—possible carbon-ceramics. The cabin has been stripped to accommodate a roll cage, a racing seat, and a set of testing tools.
BMW didn’t go into element on the M2 prototype’s powertrain, however it’s clear the manufacturing unit turbocharged straight-six has been changed by some sort of electrical energy. Seeing as how each electrical M automobile can have 4 motors, this M2 could also be rocking a quad-motor setup itself. However that is simply hypothesis.
Engineers describe the battery-powered M2 prototype as laborious to manage. M boss Frank Van Meel compares it to the F10-generation M5, which despatched energy to the rear wheels solely, making it a relative handful contemplating its twin-turbo V-8 energy. It compelled the crew to show to AWD for the next-generation automobile.
“I can nonetheless bear in mind January 2015, Cobo Corridor, Detroit Motor Present, the place I mentioned in an interview, the subsequent M5 technology will want four-wheel drive,” he mentioned. “And everybody was going ‘that is the tip of the universe,’ as a result of if you happen to put four-wheel drive on an M automobile it is going to solely go straight ahead, there will probably be no dynamics left.”
Van Meel mentioned he needed to “reside with this shit-storm” for 3 years till the primary all-wheel drive M5 got here out, then everybody drove it and beloved it. He likens the transition to electrical energy to the transition from rear-wheel drive to all-wheel drive.
“Belief me, that what we’re engaged on now for the long run will probably be a minimum of as nice as what we did [with the first AWD M5],” he mentioned. “Now we’ll make that beast controllable, in order that the subsequent step in excessive efficiency is on the horizon.”
