Shortly after BMW's victory at the 24h @ the Nurburgring, Dr. Segler, the director of BMW M GmbH sat down to give an interview with the German language publication Auto News, where he comes right out and confirms the BMW 1-Series M. He goes on to say the car will arrive in the second quarter of 2011.
Whats also notable from the interview is that Mr. Segler basicly comes out and says the car will not be called the M1. He feels that the name is reserved in history by the original M1, think NBA jerseys in the rafters. He of course, would not divulge the exact name the new car will arrive with as I'm sure that is still a highly kept secret within BMW until they put out the official press release. The car will be in some way based on the 306hp 135i Coupe, and will be produced in limited numbers, mainly owing to its limited remaining lifespan, this time think Z4 M Coupe/Roadster.
Dr. Kay Segler also touched upon the upcoming BMW M5 for 2011. The car will come down in cylinder count to 8-Cylinders (from the current 10) and also introduce turbocharging for the M5. As you might have already guessed, this is the same engine that BMW has recently shoehorned into the X5 and X6 M, namely the BMW S63 engine (4.4L twin turbo, twin scroll, direct injection). The engine will be different and tweaked some more, numbers were not divulged but I believe the car would come in at the 585-600HP mark. BMW M's goal with this car is a "Two Cars in One" philosophy, meaning that the car would be a civilized daily driver, but at the literal touch of a button transform into a racetrack eating beast. Dr. Segler certainly sounded proud in their accomplishment of this goal!
Next, the conversation turned to the possibility of Diesel cars in BMW M products. While he certainly did not knock them out (he even says they have great potential), he believes that at this time they don't technically fit into the BMW M paradigm. Much of it has to do with their lack of high-revs and also lack of demand in the most important BMW M market, the USA.
In their discussion, the topics of sales figures came up and Mr. Segler talks about the tough times that were encountered overall for BMW M in 2010, but he did sound off an optimistic note. The BMW M director has a positive outlook for 2011 based on growth in Asia, especially China and a general world-wide economic rebound that is in progress. In his final remarks, Dr. Segler talks about how he wants BMW M to increasingly cater to a more youthful market, putting my two cents in on that statement, I hope to see more cars like the 1-Series M and more speciality CSL/GTS type cars coming out of BMW M.
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