The latest news report says that there will be an ///M version of E70. And Professor Ulrich Bruhnke, president of BMW’s M division has confirmed it.

* * * * * * * * *
BMW executives have confirmed that an M version of the X5 is on the cards but, we’re told, there won’t be a current series M1.


An M version of the next BMW X5 is highly likely, while an M version of the current 1 Series is highly unlikely. But a manual M5's a definite ... at least for the US.

In Portugal last week for the international launch of the Z4M Coupe, president of BMW’s M division, Professor Ulrich Bruhnke said no decision to build an M version of the X5 had yet been made but the project was under development.

Prof Bruhnke said that all M projects put to the BMW board for approval needed to go through a four-step process: from the original idea, development of that idea, a business case and, if approved, the building of a prototype.

In the case of an M version of the X5, “We are at step two,” Prof Bruhnke said.

He said he’d test driven a prototype X5 built by the M division “five or six years ago”, and been impressed. Former F1 driver and sometime M division test driver Hans Stuck had also been impressed after lapping the benchmark Nurburgring north circuit in 7m 49s.

With the second generation X5 due for its northern hemisphere debut late this year – and spy photographs of the vehicle already appearing on the internet (no, we can’t yet show you pics here) – an M version of the current car’s obviously not going to happen. But Prof Bruhnke was bullish about an M version of the next X5 which, he said, some markets were expecting.

To illustrate his point, Prof Bruhnke used a colourful example. “The Arabs went with camels into the desert to make decisions,” he said. “Now they go in X5s and Cayennes.” If BMW wanted to be competitive against the likes of the recently launched Cayenne Turbo S, he said, it needed an M version of the X5.
Where the current range-topping X5 4.8is offers 265kW and 500Nm, the Cayenne Turbo S delivers 383kW and 720Nm. Obviously, though still well shy of the turbo Cayenne’s massive torque figure, the M5 V10’s 373kW and 520Nm in an M Car X5 would be closer to the mark.

For obvious reasons, we’d say BMW would have a fight on its hands with Mazda if it followed current M car naming procedure and called the car the MX5.

Prof Bruhnke said the next M car would be the M6 convertible, due “…in a few months”. “Others would follow,” he said.

“We have some gaps in the M car lineup,” Prof Bruhnke said. But it was difficult to make a business case for an M version of the 1 series. “We’d need to invest almost as much as an M3,” he said. Another BMW executive at the launch later confirmed that there wouldn’t be an M1 version of the current generation 1 Series. “The 130i has enough power,” he said.

In other M news, Prof Bruhnke said BMW would soon offer a manual version of the M5 in the US. Although the car has been criticised in some circles for being overly complicated in its current sequential transmission form, Prof Bruhnke said the decision to offer a manual M5 had been made because, “Owners want to show that they can handle a manual gearchange”.

Source