BMW M3 sticks with 'perfect combustion principle'
BMW M boss explains why it has ruled out 'in between' plug-in hybrids for the Neue Klasse M3
Barely more than two years ago, the prospect of BMW M continuing to offer manual gearboxes, let alone developing new petrol engines to go with them, felt like a PH pipe dream. But having spoken to the M division’s boss over the weekend, it’s clear these things and more are back on the table. In fact, we can go one step further with the engine: the petrol version of BMW’s Neue Klasse M3 will get the recently confirmed Euro 7 S58 straight-six, and better yet, it won’t be burdened with hybrid batteries. Or not very large ones at any rate.
“Our motorsport-derived-tech M Ignite Euro 7 S58 comes out this year [with the current-gen M3 and M4 first], so I can say that it will survive to go into our future M cars,” CEO Frank Van Meel told PH during an exclusive chat, trackside at Le Mans. “It won’t be hybrid, as we’re sticking with the perfect combustion principle. Here [with the Neue Klasse M3] we will go to the extremes, not the in-between.”
What Van Meel means by that is powertrain purity, because the future M3 that the M Concept Neue Klasse previews will be available in two distinct variants: one fully electric, and one purely petrol-powered car. There’s no “in-between”. Alright, the ICE M3 will use mild hybrid tech to boost efficiency, but it’ll be of the starter generator sort, rather than anything that requires heavy-duty hybrid hardware. With any luck, it won’t weigh drastically more than the current G80.
Three pedals are also still possible, too. There’s still proven demand - especially in markets like the US, where a swansong G80 M3 CS Handschalter is being launched right now with a stick shift. But given that the list of manual gearbox components suppliers continues to shrink, it would be a real statement of intent from BMW. Obviously it would be simpler to not do it, but the whole M division team, from Van Meel down, cares about engagement. “We want to do it for the driving emotion,” he said.
So where does that leave the electric M3, internally known as project code ZA0? To emphasise its ‘true M3’ status it may not be called the i3 M, but rather just wear the M3 badge and be visually almost identical to its petrol-powered sibling. That’s still to be announced in the run up to the car’s 2027 reveal. Even so, who’s going to buy an electric M3 at a time when performance EV sales are in reverse, and when there’s an S58 M3 that looks like the staggeringly cool M Concept Neue Klasse?
“With the electric M3 we move to the next level of vehicle dynamics,” Van Meel explains, suggesting that the four-motor EV is a genuine step up in terms of performance from the petrol car. “The technology provided to us by Neue Klasse means we can have the range, power and torque split to create something quite extreme. We actually started development with the vehicle dynamics as our main target, so the EV won’t just be the quicker car in a straight line, it’ll be faster around a track too.”
While BMW M head of development Alexander Karajlovic refrained from commenting on a projected range (although he didn’t look particularly bothered by PH’s suggestion that 500km would be a respectable minimum, equating to 310 miles), he did explain that brake and (rear) tyre wear should be less in the 100kWh-plus battery-powered M3, thanks to the benefits of its mechanical setup, meaning longer stints on a track before things start to cook themselves.
“The front electric motors will be there to help when they’re needed rather than make the car fully all-wheel drive,” Karajlovic says. “With the front motors we can also have much stronger regenerative braking, meaning that both recharge [of the battery] is faster and also braking loads are much less. This leads to much lower temperatures of the brakes compared to the ICE car.”
An obvious potential difference between the brake setups of the ICE and EV M3s is therefore brake size; the electric car could theoretically use smaller and therefore lighter brakes, which could help to close the gap a bit in terms of weight. Although obviously all things are relative: the battery-powered M3 is likely to be closer to 2.5 tonnes than 2 - albeit in a car with over 700hp, over 150hp more than the present M3 CS, and over probably 60-70 per cent more torque too.
Naturally, it’ll be rear-biased - “it’s important that you’re being pushed out of the corner” - and both versions of the M3 will be equipped with drift modes. In chassis terms, it is conceivable that both versions will run McPherson front struts and multi-link rears, as used by the Neue Klasse i3, albeit with a much more rigorous performance focus than the regular car. It’ll be a purely mechanical affair on both too, with no anti-roll tech.
That said, the EV is getting a very digital engine and gearbox simulation system, but it’ll be different to the solution employed by Hyundai’s epic Ioniq 5 and 6 Ns. Van Meel confesses to loving those cars and how their gearbox and engine simulations feel so real, but he reckons that’s not the right route for BMW M.
“It’s essential [gear simulations], so that you know how quick you are going,” he says. “On the track with gears you know how quick you are going into each corner. Simulated ratios will help this be maintained in the electric car. I won’t say we’re fully copying a gearbox [characteristics] as then we’d copy the negatives. We need to find the good things and then use those to enhance the driving experience.”
Karajlovic goes on to explain that the shifts won’t feature simulated torque curves like they do in Hyundai’s EVs, as that’s an example of the “negatives” of an ICE setup being carried into the electric car. Instead, the simulated gearbox will "separate the torque, but it will be the same torque throughout”. That suggests the M3 could provide an unbroken delivery of torque, with only the simulated sounds matching your fingers input on the shift paddles.
The sound, by the way, is being developed to emulate the best of BMW engines of yesteryear, including its V10, V8 and straight-six motors, while also incorporating true electric sounds, as previewed in its recent YouTube video. Expect plenty of visual drama on the car’s Neue Klasse screens to go with it.
Looking further into the future, BMW M is already considering producing estate versions of its Neue Klasse saloon, meaning petrol and electric M3 Tourings are likely. This is driven by customer demand too, as evidenced by the recent extension of production for the G81 M3 Touring into 2027. A coupe version of the Neue Klasse should also provide a successor for the M4. But most exciting is the prospect of a standalone M coupe product that would effectively be a successor to the M1, which conveniently has its 50th birthday in 2028. Van Meel confirms that he and the team are “dreaming of it”, and that it’s “entirely possible” - but that “you have to have the production capacity” to justify it.
BMW M Head of Design Oliver Heilmer has already been sketching his vision for a Neue Klasse M1, not just at work, but at home too. He says he does it in his own time not for BMW but “for [himself] and for meditation”. And home life may provide inspiration for another positive change in the future of BMW M, because Heilmer’s children have helped him notice a changing trend in an organic way. Buttons are back.
“Having three kids it’s been interesting to see that their point of view of my Kindle is that it’s old fashioned,” he laughs. “But I’m not talking about old fashioned as tech. They think the new fashion in reading is taking a book. It’s proof to me that for the kids, the 1980s is coming back in fashion in everything. Even the Walkman is back! So in the next evolution of interiors, some switches could certainly come back.”
For someone who drove to this weekend’s Le Mans race in an M2 CS, a car with arguably the perfect blend of BMW digital tech (two wide screens on the dash) and BMW switchgear (iDrive controller and proper buttons on the centre console and wheel), Heilmer’s thoughts on the subject are welcome. Although who’re we kidding? The promise of an M3 that looks like the stunning M Concept and uses S58 power is the real thing to celebrate here.
Looks good to my eyes (they've finally integrated the swollen rear arch into the door), choice of electric or ICE (I'll take mine electric), may well still have a manual option, possible indications the weight won't get too out of hand.
Good news all round!
I've already said before, that I didn't think that the i3M would appeal to long term ICE M car fans for example, so this is refreshing to read, and BMW seem to agree with me.
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