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BMW Says It Will Not Make 'M' Badged 'i' Cars
BMW has answered a common question that is sure to have cropped up in many a minds, be it industry specialists or simply BMW fans. Executives from the Bavarian auto company have cleared the air by stating no ‘M' badged ‘i' car will be made.
Speaking to CarAdvice, BMW Group head of technology communications Cypselus von Frankenberg said: "I don't think that it would make sense to mix these two sub-brands in one car. We have the Ms, we have the i, and we have the BMW, the core brand."
"I don't think it's necessary. You look at the car [i8], it's an i version. You look at the LifeDrive architecture of the car, it wouldn't make sense to bring M to that," Frankenberg told CarAdvice.
BMW i8 is an electric sports car which the brand premiered at the Frankfurt Auto Show. The premium priced i8 is a sports car that matches, in price, a few M cars. In fact, during launch, it was stated by BMW that the i8 would offer similar (if not the same) performance, driving dynamics and agility as the M3.
Frankenberg made it clear that at no point during the development of the ‘i' badged cars were engineers from the M division involved and neither will they ever be.
These sentiments were reflected in the comments made by BMW M division head of product development, Carsten Pries as well, who said: "BMW 'i' obviously has a different strategic focus, very much targeting into the area of sustainability."
"It's two different operations, there's no fluctuation from BMW M to BMW i or any big transfers going the other way. M engineers are among the most loyal engineers, probably the most loyal I've ever met," Pries said.
"To me the brands BMW M and BMW i have different identities, and different focuses within their identities. I don't expect there's any type of competition, even if i8 is a sports car, it's a different kind of sports car."
However, Pries did state that if ever (hypothetically, we presume) an M version of an i8 comes out it will definitely offer higher performance, with a 0-100km/h time lesser than the i8's claimed 4.4 seconds.
Keeping i-branded BMW separate from the M division only makes sense considering the i8 is a green sports car. The M cars, on the other hand, are the exact opposite of green. An M badged i8 would negate the car's purpose, its reason for existence.
But does that mean at some point in time the M and i divisions will be at loggerheads, competing against each other? BMW believes the possibility of the two brands eating into each others sales exists, but that depends on how well the i8 performs in terms of sales. And to such a scenario to play out, it would take a long time.
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