Beginning one of its most exciting chapters to date, BMW M moves towards high-performance electric mobility as it conducts the first test drive with a prototype for innovative drive and chassis control systems.
This bold move comes exactly 50 years after the foundation of BMW M GmbH which is in the midst of a transformation process towards electric mobility.
On our anniversary, we are not only looking back, but above all also looking forward,” says Franciscus van Meel, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW M GmbH. “Before the end of the year, production of the BMW XM, our first high-performance car featuring a VB M hybrid drive, will commence.”
The concept testing focuses on a four-wheel drive system comprising four electric motors and an integrated driving dynamics control system, which together provide an unprecedented level of performance and experience.
With the completely new drive concept, BMW M GmbH is underscoring its development expertise as the purely electric drive system is combined with innovative control systems to redefine the combination of dynamics, agility and precision that is characteristic of BMW M automobiles in a high-performance sports car.
The anniversary year has already seen the market launch of the all-electric BMW iLi MS0 performance car, and the BMW iX M60. In addition, the BMW i7 M70, the first BMW M automobile based on an all-electric luxury sedan, is to follow as early as next year.
Extremely precise, extremely variable: M xDrive four-wheel drive system with four electric motors.
The core of the revolutionary high-performance drive system now making its debut on the road in the test vehicle is an electric M xDrive four-wheel drive system with four electric motors. The fact that all four wheels are each driven by an electric motor opens up completely new possibilities for infinitely variable, extremely precise and at the same time very fast distribution of drive torque.
Within milliseconds, the power and torque of the spontaneously reacting electric motors can be dosed so precisely that the load demand signalled via the accelerator pedal can be realised at a level of dynamics that is unattainable using conventional drive systems.
This means that the driver is able to experience entirely new performance characteristics even under extremely demanding conditions such as in highly dynamic situations or adverse road conditions.
“Electrification opens up completely new degrees of freedom for us to create M-typical dynamics,” says Dirk Hacker, Head of Development at BMW M GmbH. “And we can already see that we can exploit this potential to the maximum, so that our high-performance sports cars will continue to offer the M-typical and incomparable combination of dynamics, agility and precision in the locally emission-free future.”
BMW M GmbH, formerly known as BMW Motorsport GmbH, is a subsidiary of BMW AG that manufactures high-performance cars.
