BMW M have been pretty transparent about their intention to go fully electric, or at least electrify, their mainstay performance cars. Cars like the i4 M50, for example, can be seen as a first stab, but a ground-up model is very much already in the works.
And this is it. Behind all that confusing camo-wrap is supposedly BMW’s first zero emissions M car, a real one this time. Though referred to as merely a concept, the car itself can be seen in the video embedded below very much in motion.
The first BMW M EV?
They say it uses the aforementioned i4 M50 as a basis, though this could just be some misdirection as very little besides a similar-looking outer shell might be shared between them. At first glance, it looks to boast a significantly wider front and rear track than its supposed donor car.
There aren’t any further details as to what exactly this new M car entails except that it is revealed to be driven by a quad-motor electric powertrain, one on each wheel hub much like the individual wheel-drive found on the Rimac Nevera.
Not only does this promise some potentially massive power outputs, but it should allow BMW engineers to deliver a much more finely tuned performance profile as torque vectoring, braking, power delivery, and maybe even steer angle, can be individually and dynamically altered.
In its reveal video, the car is shown to perform a ‘tank turn’, which is basically spinning within its own length as a tank would by rotating its tracks in opposite directions simultaneously.
The BMW concept/prototype chose to perform a superfluous 360-degree turn as it smoked each tyre and it all looked very CGI, so we remain in doubt if this is actually possible as it’s definitely not practical. Perhaps BMW will charge you a monthly fee to unlock it.
In terms of the production car this car will actually spawn in the future, much is left unclear. It is possible this is a test bed for a dedicated high-performance EV platform, but which M car could this possibly be replacing – M2, M3, M5, or M8? Perhaps all of them, perhaps none. Perhaps this could be a new numbered designation all to itself.