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BMW is working on its first high-performance electric M car, with a prototype that may lead to a battery-powered successor to the M3 or M4.
0BMW M has given the first indication it’s developing a high-performance electric car, with the reveal of a four-motor, all-wheel-drive prototype that could preview an eventual electric successor to the BMW M3.
While BMW already offers the electric i4 M50 and iX M60, these are classed as “performance” models – rather than “high-performance” cars, the category home to the M2, M3, M4 and other full-strength M cars.
The vinyl-wrapped, prototype revealed overnight falls into the high-performance group, combining modified bodywork from an i4 M50, with M4-inspired styling and suspension, and no fewer than four electric motors.
Each wheel is driven by its own motor to enable an “infinitely variable” power split between the wheels, allowing drivers to carry more speed through corners, and maximise traction out of them.
“Within milliseconds, the power and torque of the spontaneously reacting electric motors can be dosed so precisely … at a level of dynamics that is unattainable using conventional drive systems,” BMW says in its media release.
The electric all-wheel-drive system is managed by a central computer which uses data on accelerator position, steering angle, G-forces and wheel speeds to manage the power sent to each wheel, via the car’s differentials and multi-plate clutch pack.
Initial testing of this quad-motor electric drive system was trialled first in virtual models and on test benches, according to BMW, but it’s now time to test the system in the real world, the company says.
BMW says the prototype can achieve “significantly higher cornering speeds … even on rain-soaked or snow-covered roads”, by gradually increasing the power sent to the outside rear tyre as the driver turns the steering wheel into a bend, minimising understeer.
Based on a production i4 M50, the M electric prototype’s sheetmetal has been “modified”, with wider wheel arches designed to house “specially-manufactured” front and rear axles.
The front bumper comes from an M4 CSL – with the radiators placed in the same locations as today’s petrol-powered M3 and M4 – while the front axle uses “an adapted body strut concept taken from the BMW M3/M4” to increase stiffness.
While BMW M doesn’t explicitly say so, the creation of this prototype all but confirms a high-performance electric M car in line with the M3 or M4 is in the company’s plans – or in early development.
However, it is yet to be confirmed when such a car would launch – or what it would be based on.
The next current BMW M passenger car (not SUV) due for replacement by a new model is the M5, alongside its sportier M8 sibling – but it will take a half step to plug-in hybrid power, retaining a petrol V8 at its core, rather than go all-electric.
Next in line would be the M3 and M4 siblings – replacements for which are not due until between 2027 and 2030.
But if reports of the next 3 Series switching to electric power only – with no petrol or diesel versions available – are to be believed, the next M3 (and M4) may benefit from BMW’s upcoming Neue Klasse electric platform, capable of front, rear or all-wheel drive.
These cars may be among the most powerful BMW M cars ever built, as they would need to exceed the 400kW/795Nm outputs of today’s BMW i4 M50 – which sits one rung below in the BMW M-car hierarchy.
“Electrification opens up completely new degrees of freedom for us to create M-typical dynamics,” Dirk Häcker, Head of Development at BMW M, said in a media statement.
“We can already see that we can exploit this potential to the maximum, so that our high-performance sports cars will continue to offer the M-typical and incomparable combination of dynamics, agility and precision in the locally emission-free future.”
In a recent interview with UK magazine Autocar, BMW M CEO Frank van Meel said: “We’ve just been talking to customers and the feedback is that 90 to 95 per cent don’t care what direction we take on powertrain.
“They just want an M car. Yes, some say that if we don’t do V8s, they’re out but that’s okay: I respect that.”
Speaking about the M3, van Meel remarked: “The story of the M3 is everlasting. Every time we change the story of the engine, from four-cylinder to six-cylinder to eight-cylinder to six-cylinder and a turbocharger, the story continues.
“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. We have stood the test of time for 50 years and will continue to do so.”
“I would love to see electrified Ms in the future – hybrid and pure-electric, but if we bring them, they will be so groundbreaking that you will say: ‘This is crazy, I didn’t see that coming.’”
Rumours from the UK’s Car magazine last year suggested BMW M was working on developing a full-strength BMW iM4 – one step above the i4 M50 – with up to 450kW, and a 120kWh battery pack.
This report aligns with BMW’s use of the i4 M50 as the basis of its quad-motor electric prototype – but no further details of a possible iM4 model have emerged since the Car report was published last April.
The i4 is slated to undergo its mid-life facelift in July 2024 – and with BMW known to typically conduct two years of public road testing before it launches a new model, this prototype could point to a quad-motor BMW i4 M becoming a reality.
Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines as a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family.
Read more about Alex Misoyannis 
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