BMW will likely turn to hybrids to help its M sports cars use less fuel, but there will be another benefit: more performance.
“We will look at electrification – I think it could be inevitable – but it depends on the possibility of increasing performance,” BMW’s VP of engineering Dirk Hacker told BMW won’t sacrifice performance when making the move to hybrid cars, and will only make the move when the brand is sure it will benefit the sporting nature of the M brand.
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One of the big worries according to Hacker is the added weight of batteries. “We’ll need to look at the weight implications of electrification,” he said. “What is the compromise? Are we ready now or do we need to take a look at some special structural solutions for the future?”
A specific timeline for when these cars could begin arriving was not mentioned, though stricter fuel economy regulations in the US mean that BMW will likely be forced to make some changes sometime in the next few years. BMW will likely draw on its experience with the i3 and i8 hybrids to electrify its M cars.
Rather than outright power, balance is the most important factor for BMW when it comes to sports cars says Hacker, so it seems clear that while hybrids are coming, they won’t arrive until the weight issue can be dealt with. An all-electric BMW M car was also ruled out by Hacker, who says that M customers don’t want to give up their gas-driven engines.
[Source: Auto Express]
