Seeing into the longer term is a very uncommon present. Particularly when it’s about how one among 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 realized that the G81 Touring isn’t coming to America. However it wasn’t all unhealthy information. Fortunately, there’s nonetheless loads to be enthusiastic about at BMW M.
The State of the Guide
“It’s a way of life assertion,” Ms. Neubauer begins when requested concerning the US handbook take fee. “It’s not, ‘oh yeah, I obtained 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 actual figures to offer. However not all the things will get a handbook: “it is determined by 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 alternative, in reality: “there’s nothing ever closed endlessly,” Neubauer says when requested if BMW is closing the door on manuals. You most likely already knew, however it’s all the time good to listen to that BMW is dedicated to preserving 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 count on from BMW M going ahead. “Introducing a brand new idea to a market all the time comes with a little bit of a threat. There’s one very concrete challenge on the horizon that we’re presently engaged on. I feel it is perhaps very interesting to many markets on the earth.”
Not a lot to go on, however perhaps 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 Perhaps 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 immediately, the M2. “San Luis Potosi is restricted to a sure variety of colours…and sure, there’s evaluation occurring to open it up for extra Particular person colours.” Sadly, she stops a number of phrases wanting confirming it, however no 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: one of the best 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 things,” she says. The “extroverts” choosing the “much less useful automotive that’s the M4 are a smaller goal group than the M3.”
M5 Manufacturing Surprises
Nearly 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 far increased.” She claims manufacturing is cut up evenly at 50:50 in the mean time.
