BMW M1 And M1 Hommage Pose At The BMW Museum

Identify a extra iconic duo — we’ll wait. Jokes apart, BMW Museum guests are in for an actual deal with because the M1 sits alongside its modern-day equal. Not like its supply of inspiration, M’s tribute to the one and solely supercar sadly by no means made it to manufacturing. Though mid-engined like its forebear, the Hommage truly borrowed the entrance and rear axles from the front-engined E63 6 Sequence.

Very similar to the E26, which underwent a tumultuous growth course of, the follow-up idea from 2008 confronted its personal set of challenges. BMW designed and constructed it in simply 4 months to be prepared in time for the 2008 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, celebrating 30 years because the authentic M1’s debut. Had it gone into manufacturing, the Liquid Orange stunner was alleged to get a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V10 engine. Sure, the high-revving S85 from the E60 M5 and E63 M6.

However the Hommage by no means noticed the sunshine of day, so seeing it up shut will all the time be a special day. Admiring the one-off because it sits subsequent to the Giorgetto Giugiaro-penned M1 is the icing on the cake. We nonetheless choose the unique, however that doesn’t make Benoit Jacob’s work any much less spectacular. Trying on the idea, it’s arduous to imagine the design is already 17 years outdated. Its predecessor has aged like nice wine as effectively.

For the reason that M1 Hommage, BMW has revisited the thought of a supercar a couple of instances. It got here near green-lighting a flagship efficiency machine across the flip of the last decade. The 2019 Imaginative and prescient M Subsequent was alleged to turn out to be a manufacturing mannequin, however the mission was canned a 12 months later as a result of coronavirus pandemic.

The Vision M Next had advanced into the “I16” mission in the course of the 12 months following the idea’s reveal. BMW engineered the mid-engined supercar utilizing the i8’s composite construction earlier than in the end pulling the plug. We received the XM as an alternative. Why? We recall an announcement from a couple of years again:

“The BMW M1 was an ideal match for its period, whereas the BMW XM is tailored for at this time’s prospects. In former instances, sports activities automobiles had been extraordinarily interesting to a broad vary of consumers and extremely related for automobile producers. Nevertheless, prospects all over the world at this time are searching for SAVs/SUVs that ship practicality and excessive efficiency in a single luxurious package deal. These autos have the potential to considerably drive progress for automobile producers transferring ahead.”

Lengthy story quick, BMW figured it could make more cash with a polarizing SUV than with an M1 successor. Nevertheless, XM gross sales figures haven’t exactly been great. We’re nonetheless holding out hope for one more supercar. If the corporate has consumers lined up for the €500,000 M8-based Speedtop and Skytop, there needs to be a enterprise case for a seven-figure range-topper. Lest we neglect, the €750,000 M4 CSL was additionally a convincing success, so now’s pretty much as good a time as any to convey a brand new M1 to market.

Photographs: BMW Welt / Instagram