Filed under:
Hybrid,
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BMW,
Electric,
Diesel,
Luxury
There once was a time when
BMW only produced a handful of its models in high-performance M guise. There was the
M3, the
M5, and that was pretty much it. Now, however, it offers M models based on the
1 Series,
3 Series,
5 Series,
6 Series,
X5 and
X6. And that's only expected to grow.
The first on the docket, says BMW North America CEO (and former M chief) Ludwig Willisch speaking with TheDetroitBureau.com, will be an
M7. The Bavarian automaker has long resisted going down the same road as the
Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and
Audi S8, but that's slated to change in the near future. But while the
X5 M and
X6 M have been hot sellers, Willisch rules out the possibility of M versions of the smaller
X1 and
X3 crossovers, as well as bringing the
M550d xDrive super-diesel-sport wagon (or presumably its crossover counterparts) to North America.
Of course, BMW could opt to apply a similar sub-M formula to the
7 Series like it's doing with the
M135i. Either way, BMW is counting on the reduced cost and labor involved in manufacturing carbon fiber components for the viability of both its performance vehicles and its environmentally friendly i range.
As our compatriots at the Bureau note, the engineers at
McLaren needed some 3,000 hours of labor to produce the carbon fiber components for the
McLaren F1 over a decade ago. By the time it started building the
SLR for
Mercedes-Benz, it had cut that down to 400 hours. And with the new
MP4-12C, it takes them less than six hours. As a result, costs have come down too, resulting in a lower street price for each successive model: $1 million, $400,000 and $250,000, respectively. And that's a model on which other automakers - like BMW - can seek to capitalize.
BMW banking on carbon fiber costs to broaden M range originally appeared on
Autoblog on Wed, 30 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our
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05-30-2012, 02:20 PM
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