Earlier this week it was reported that the electric M3 has already been given a name. A patent had been found in which BMW had secured the name ‘iM3’. The boss of BMW M spoke at the Top Gear Awards gala on Tuesday evening and dispelled the rumor. In fact, according to Frank van Meel, there will never be an M car with an ‘i’ in the name.
Van Meel is asked whether a successor to the BMW i8 is in production (and why not call it iM1 or Mi?). Van Meel: ‘No, that would be Mission Impossible [hah!] are. Actually, we will never use an i with an M, even if it were electric.’ It doesn’t matter to Van Meel what kind of engine the M3 has, its name remains M3.
‘Because an M3 had a four-cylinder, six-cylinder, eight-cylinder, naturally aspirated engine and turbo engine. Now it even has an xDrive, but it will always be an M3,” says Van Meel. Why isn’t it called a BMW iM3? ‘So if we ever do something like that, it will always be called an M without an i. Because that’s just the technology and M is not about technology. It’s about a promise, it’s about motorsport, it’s about emotion. It is not about the drivetrain,” says the BMW CEO.
Will there be an electric successor to the i8?
Van Meel and his team are ‘always dreaming’ about a new BMW supercar, but there will not be a new supercar for the foreseeable future. ‘It’s in our hearts, it’s in our minds. As car boys and car girls, we are always thinking and trying out these types of cars, but I can’t say yes to you,” says Van Meel.
The BMW M boss also talks about the origins of the M3 Touring, which finally appeared this year after a long wait: ‘I [zou willen dat] I could tell you a romantic story about how it happened, but really it came from the team itself. They said ‘I think it’s time, we can make a Touring that is cool and drives like an M3′, but can be used every day by all customers.’
He continues: ‘And actually it shouldn’t cost too much and I think the market is quite large. As soon as that happened, everyone was happy. And you see how the car is doing on the market. The next step to say “Why don’t we make a bigger one too?” was quite clear and easier then.’ We also can’t wait for the new M5 Touring to arrive.
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