Seeing into the long run is a really uncommon present. Particularly when it’s about how certainly one of your favourite manufacturers plans to develop and broaden their efficiency automotive lineup. Catching up with Sylvia Neubauer—Vice President Buyer, Model, and Gross sales at BMW M—we discovered that the G81 Touring isn’t coming to America. However it wasn’t all dangerous information. Fortunately, there’s nonetheless rather a lot to be enthusiastic about at BMW M.
The State of the Guide
“It’s a way of life assertion,” Ms. Neubauer begins when requested in regards to the US handbook take fee. “It’s not, ‘oh yeah, I received the cheaper automotive, and it’s a handbook,’ it’s an announcement…like a bragging factor.” She agreed with us once we mentioned the US market had the upper take fee on manuals, however didn’t have precise figures to supply. However not all the pieces will get a handbook: “it is dependent upon the idea. The handbook transmission just isn’t the right answer for each phase.” And, don’t get it twisted—the lion’s share of M vehicles are nonetheless computerized.
That’s to not say BMW is breaking apart with the handbook. Fairly the other, in truth: “there’s nothing ever closed eternally,” Neubauer says when requested if BMW is closing the door on manuals. You most likely already knew, however it’s at all times good to listen to that BMW is dedicated to maintaining the handbook gearbox alive.
Supercar, or One thing Else?
Large information is brewing at BMW: “there’s something on the horizon that I’m most likely not allowed to speak about,” Sylvia says when requested about what sort of innovation we will anticipate from BMW M going ahead. “Introducing a brand new idea to a market at all times comes with a little bit of a danger. There’s one very concrete undertaking on the horizon that we’re presently engaged on. I believe it is perhaps very interesting to many markets on the earth.”
Not a lot to go on, however possibly it has one thing to do with that loopy electrical BMW prototype noticed a number of months in the past. One factor it gained’t be is a follow-up to the superior M8. Sadly, that automotive left manufacturing earlier this yr. Sylvia confirmed that the M8 “has no direct successor.”
M2 Will Be Extra Customizable—and Possibly Ship Faster
“We all know that there’s a demand,” Sylvia says when requested about an expanded or Particular person colour palette for the smallest M automotive right this moment, the M2. “San Luis Potosi is restricted to a sure variety of colours…and sure, there may be evaluation occurring to open it up for extra Particular person colours.” Sadly, she stops a number of phrases wanting confirming it, however not less than know that they’re trying into it. BMW M can be optimizing the bigger Particular person ordering course of with the chief board of BMW Group, which could result in extra/faster choices.
Sylvia stunned us with a stunning statistic: the perfect promoting M automotive in 2024 was apparently the M2. After that, it goes, pretty predictably, M3 after which M4. “The M3 simply gives you all the pieces,” she says. The “extroverts” selecting the “much less purposeful automotive that’s the M4 are a smaller goal group than the M3.”
M5 Manufacturing Surprises
Virtually universally, the brand new M5 stunned journalists as they climbed behind the wheel for the primary time. And seems, it had some surprises in retailer for BMW M, too. “Initially, our plan was to have two-thirds of the manufacturing over your complete [M5] lifecycle as a sedan and one-third as a Touring,” Sylvia begins. “We now see that there’s extra demand for the sedan, so we’ve elevated manufacturing there. However there’s much more demand for the Touring. So the rise on the Touring is way greater.” She claims manufacturing is break up evenly at 50:50 in the intervening time.
