BMW M GmbH: Is an independent sports car coming?

N he managing director of BMW M GmbH is now less than a year Office. And yet Markus Flasch is already daring to get closer to a topic that worries the sports division of the Munich-based car manufacturer - and especially its supporters - more than anything else. The question is whether there will finally be an independent M sports car. Not a dynamic offshoot of a BMW model à la M3 or M5, but rather a car like the Mercedes-AMG GT or the Audi R8.

'We have some very specific plans'

So what does Flasch say about it? “Independent M vehicles are obviously something that my team likes to work on,” said the M managing director in an interview with the British trade magazine “Top Gear”. To add on, with reference to the BMW M1 built between 1978 and 1981, the first and so far only standalone sports coupé from M GmbH: “We have some very specific plans for something new.”

ten: “It will be 2019 so far best sales year for M GmbH. The brand doesn't need this lighthouse car. ”Instead, the Austrian takes everything into account. An electrified drive train seems to be in place, the car could even be fully electric. After all, his company would be in lively exchange with BMW i, the Group's electronics division.

The independent M model doesn't even have to be a real sports car. That was 'not set in stone,' said Flasch in the spring of 2019 in an interview with auto motor und sport when asked about it. “We are currently testing in all directions and are also looking at other, sometimes completely new, vehicle concepts. It's not about short-term decisions here. ”A statement that should dampen the euphoria of BMW fans about an imminent sports car presentation.