BMW Doesn’t Want to Flatten the Power Curve
Any reasonable person may wonder if car engines will ever reach a peak, but performance enthusiasts are typically not so reasonable; they always seem to want more.
Well, BMW has some good news.
Markus Flasch, head of the German automaker’s M division, recently told Australian website Which Car that there won’t be a power limit for future models. It's just a matter of tuning and making it all accessible.
"You look 10, 15 years back and if you imagined [617] horsepower in a [sedan], you'd probably be scared. Now, I can give an M5 this [617] horsepower and only drive to my mom, in winter, and she'd still be okay,” he said. “It's all just a question of how you incorporate it into a package that makes it accessible for everyone, and this is what M has always been brilliant in."
Flasch is referring specifically to the M5 in Competition trim, but the X5 M and X6 M SUVs are doing the same, not to mention the M8 coupes. Other models like the 7 Series (with a twin-turbo V12) also top 600 horsepower at the moment.
Global sales of BMW M cars have increased 207 percent over the past five years, so clearly people can’t seem to get enough.
What’s next? Back in January, the company predicted it would continue to make gasoline engines for at least another 30 years, but obviously they won’t grow in size. Rather, they will be paired with electric motors to boost output, as other manufacturers are doing. Take the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid, for instance, which generates close to 680 horsepower.
Without giving any numbers or providing some technical details, Flasch added: "We won't mess around or compromise the distinct character that our M cars have today. An electrified car, whether it's plug in the wall, battery-electric, has to take it up with the predecessor, and I know that there are physical limits, but within physical limits of working dimensions, we are going to make it happen."