Nowadays, the most powerful BMW M reach the mark of 625 hp — it is the power of the Competition versions of the M5, M8, X5 M, X6 M — but it doesn't seem that BMW Motorsport GmbH will stop there. By the way, the sky seems to be the limit when it comes to… power limit.
This is what we can take from the words of Markus Flasch, the CEO of BMW M, in an interview given to the Australian publication Which Car. The topics covered were several, with a part of this being dedicated to "heavy artillery".
Power is nothing without control, right? And there's nothing too powerful, it's just a matter of how we calibrate and improve it in a car, and how we make it affordable.
Power Wars
Anglophone media used the expression “Power Wars” to characterize the fight between the Germans of M, AMG and RS. We've seen power levels make significant leaps — for example, from the 400 hp of the M5 E39 we jumped to the 507 hp of the M5 E60 — but in recent years those leaps have been much more timid, as seen between the M5 F10 and the M5 F90 . Have we reached a limit?
Apparently not, according to Flasch: “We look back 10, 15 years and if you imagined a 625 hp sedan, you would probably be scared. Now I can offer an M5 with 625 hp and give it to my mother to drive in the winter, and she would still be fine.”
Don't expect a power limit.
However, in this world of ever more demanding emission standards, wouldn't it be counterproductive to put more and more powerful vehicles on the market, therefore potentially more polluting? This is where electrification has its say. However, Markus Flasch has a very concrete idea about this possibility. Whether hybrid or electric, future BMW M adopting them must surpass their predecessors… in character: “we are not going to tamper with or compromise the distinctive character that our M cars have today”.
M2 CS, the favorite
However, it is curious that, despite the claims that there is no power limit for the BMW M's of the future, make M2 everyone's favorite M . With 410 hp in its Competition version and 450 hp in the most recent and hardcore CS version, it is the least powerful of the “pure” M and also the one that has received the most praise from the media and customers alike.
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And it's the BMW M2 CS also Flasch's favourite, after being questioned by Which Car. “It's a very pure and defined set. Manual cashier. Basically, M4 technology in a more compact package.” It will probably be your next “company car” after the M8 and X6 M.
About manual boxes
Following the topic M2 CS, the topic of manual gearboxes came by association, and in Flasch's words, it doesn't seem that they will disappear anytime soon from the BMW M: “For me, a manual transmission is no longer the most accessible proposition (… ) Nowadays, the manual (box) is for the enthusiast; for those who wear a mechanical watch. We made a conscious decision to offer a manual (box) (M3 and M4) and the only market that insisted on this was the United States of America”.
If it looks like there will be no power limit for future BMW Ms, it's also good to know that, on the other hand, there seems to be room for simpler, more interactive, not-so-fast machines, and even manual gearboxes.
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