BMW M's new boss: PH Meets

New M boss Franciscus van Meel talks hybrids, four-wheel drive and the death of manuals...

We'll understand if you've not been keeping up with the musical chairs at the top of the in-house German tuning divisions recently, as it's turned into a bit of a soap opera. We recently interviewed the new boss of Audi's Quattro division, Heinz-Peter Hollerweger. And now we've had a chance to meet the man he replaced, Franciscus van Meel, who has defected to BMW to head up M Division. Considering the radically different mindsets of the two companies when it comes to the serious business of going naffing fast, that's like crossing the streams, surely?

Given context of our chat 4WD cropped up a lot

We grab 15 minutes to chat at the launch of the BMW X6 M, itself about as far from what many fans would regard as the typical M car as it's possible to be. We skirt around Van Meel's awkward departure from Audi. He was moved to become head of the company's Chinese engineering centre after allegedly falling out with company R&D boss Ulrich Hackenberg, before he decided to jump ship to BMW. See what we mean about the soap opera? But he admits he's found a different ethos in M:

"Within the high performance community people have the same mindset, but of course it's a different philosophy - M stands for typically rear-wheel biased agility and precision."

Unashamed bias
Did you spot it? And it soon turns out that "rear-wheel biased" is a running theme during the interview. As it's taking place at the launch of the four-wheel driven X6 M it makes sense, but it also reflects what's likely to be a wider move away from rear-drive.

"It's not a dogma to have four-wheel drive, and I don't like the phrase four-wheel drive so much, because it implies a straightforward split," says van Meel, "I think let's say rear-wheel drive with, under some circumstances, a little more traction would be the right expression for that."

Predecessor Nitschke leaves big shoes to fill

We'll stick with four-wheel drive, to avoid confusion. And with spy photographs circulating of what appears to be a BMW M5 with front driveshafts there seems no doubt that we will soon have more conventional M cars than the X5 and X6 sending drive to all four corners, and van Meel was certainly a big exponent of the performance advantages of four-wheel drive while at Quattro, especially when it comes to Nordschleife times.

So it's time to drop the N-bomb; would van Meel sign off on a four-wheel driven M car if it was faster around the Nordschleife than a rear-driven one?

"That is very important. If we were to go slower on the Nordschleife with rear-wheel drive with more traction [i.e. four-wheel drive] then it's the wrong system. That's why it's so important for us not to first discuss do we want this technology or not; it's what technology do we need to fulfil this philosophy. Of course, agility and precision is important, but the facts are time on the Nurburging."

Keeping schtum
Which sounds like a cautious 'yes' to us - and one that will be confirmed if we do see a four-wheel driven M5. Van Meel got predictably cagey when asked directly about forthcoming models, refusing to directly confirm the M2 that's been spotted testing, and which other BMW sources say that we'll be seeing next year, along with a GTS version of the M4. Although he did admit that - like the rest of the world - he was a big fan of the 1 M Coupe and can see the point of doing a successor in the fullness of time.

Refuses to confirm 4WD M5 despite spy shots

But he insisted that M will maintain its exclusivity and never turn out as many variants as Quattro and AMG. "I think we are the most effective with a very small number of right-to-the-point cars which we sell at high volume," he says. "To us it's very important to make cars like that, so that rules out some variants. We're not just talking about doing more for the sake of doing more."

He did however admit that an X4 M would make sense given the success of the Porsche Macan. "If the segment is big enough and there is a business case then of course we would do something like that."

The topic of hybridisation received a similarly cautious response; this despite the fact that Porsche's R&D boss recently told us that, after 2020, all 911s will need some form of electrical assistance to meet emissions targets.

Four-wheel drive plans not confined to X models

"The biggest challenge for electrification is weight and power-to-weight," van Meel says. "Look at racing and you see a minimum weight level, and if they can make cars so light they can implement electrification without crossing that borderline they are fine because they are still on the same competitive level. For us it's more difficult, because we are trying everywhere to reduce weight and everything you put on top makes it harder to get this competitive power-to-weight ratio. I think it's going to be a challenge under these conditions to bring that technology to M cars."

Where the heart is
Which sounds like 'not until we have to', doesn't it? On some subjects, van Meel opens up considerably. He admits that we're probably not going to see manual gearboxes offered on any M cars within a few years. "I have got two hearts in my chest on this one," he says. "One is the technology heart that says we don't need it, that it's slower than the automatic and has higher fuel consumption. The other is emotional, where a manual gearbox is still very attractive... I think it will depend on the customers. What we see is that the second-last generation M3 had a 50:50 split between the manual and the SMG, and the last generation had 75 per cent DCT. During the market introduction of the new M3 and M4 we're seeing an even higher percentage of DCT... If there is a big community requiring it then it has a future, but I don't think it is very bright I must say."

Channelling heritage into new products a challenge

And don't get your hopes up for any more estate M cars either, this being one part of M's past that doesn't seem likely to make a return. "I wouldn't rule it out, but I must say the history of M is as a sedan, it's the M5 and the M3," he says. "I think it would be very hard to do another Touring because it's not something customers are accustomed to, and the question is will they buy that. The US and China are not Touring markets, so that just leaves Europe. It's a difficult situation, but probably not."

Van Meel is friendly and likeable in person, but it's fair to say our interview finishes with almost as many questions left hanging as answered. He has come to M as an outsider and it's fair to say that he seems determined to take the organisation in some brave new directions. In isolation they make sense - SUVs make money, four-wheel drive will ultimately deliver faster laps. And his resistance to the wave of 'me too' hybridisation sweeping much of the industry looks like a principled stance in the current climate. But van Meel and his team will also have to be careful that the values that have made M and its cars special don't get damaged in the transition to this new era.

Franciscus van Meel official CV (reproduced from BMW press release)
23/04/1966 Born Hertogenbosch (NL)
1985 University entrance diploma
1985 - 1993 Automotive engineering studies at the Technical University Berlin
1989 - 1991 Research associate at "Ingenieurbüro Fahrzeugtechnik Berlin (IBF)" (Automotive Engineering Consultants Berlin)
1994 - 1996 ITT Automotive Europe GmbH (Frankfurt/Main)
1996 - 2012 Various functions at AUDI AG, Ingolstadt, incl. head of electromobility, head of development brakes, tyre pressure control and driver assistance systems
2012 - 2014 Managing director of quattro GmbH (Neckarsulm)
1 October 2014 Joins BMW AG
as of 1 January 2015 Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW M GmbH

[Sources: Autocar]

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