In a recent interview, Frank van Meel, head of BMW M Division confirmed that his team is gradually shifting over to electric powertrains and is curbing Internal-combustion powered vehicles. He shared his excitement for all-electric or hybrid powertrains and if M Division would be producing them, they would have to be groundbreaking.
Discussing about the next generation of the M3, he said, “Maybe it will go electric – but if it does, it will always be an M3. Whatever the powertrain, you should always be able to drive our cars and know they are M cars.” Electric M cars are already making headway with the currently developed cars. For example, the upcoming XM will be a Hybrid twin-turbo 4.4L V8 or the next M5, which will be a plug-in Hybrid. Even the next iteration of the 3 series, said to arrive in 2025 will have a fully electric powertrain. The challenges for the engineers lie in the weight management, most of which would be concentrated on the bottom of the car.
