Click above image to view video after the jump
Truth be told, the Autoblog team is split on whether or not we like the M1 Hommage Concept that was unveiled at the Concorso d'Eleganza at Villa d'Este this past weekend. Some of us claim that it's genius baked in a car-shaped pan, while the rest would rather stare at flame surfacing, Chris Bangle's ignominious contribution to automotive design, until their eyes start bleeding. Regardless, it creates discussion, and to facilitate the talk we have BMW Design Director Adrian van Hooydonk on camera after the jump talking about the car and its inspiration, the original M1.
Though the video after the jump is over eight minutes long, you'll want to watch it all the way through to catch footage of the original M1 that was used for the photo shoot being thrashed on-track.
[Source: BMW]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Pluton @ Apr 29th 2008 2:41PM
Camaro for richer fools!
ECM @ Apr 29th 2008 3:42PM
beem-ero
Torrent @ Apr 29th 2008 6:02PM
Or a Corvette fits better.
PJ @ Apr 29th 2008 7:03PM
The phrase you were looking for was "hawtest concept car ever." ;-)
Seriously. This thing is drop-dead.
And the M1 itself was a vastly underrated machine. It was an exceptionally balanced and civilized (for a supercar) all-rounder born into an age where aesthetic excess and HP specs (personified by the Countach) determined desirability. That, and it was overpriced and had plastic body panels (apparently a BMW no-no). Still, if it had debuted in the mid-70s as originally intended, classic enthuasiasts would still be worshipping at its altar.
Soccer Mom @ Apr 29th 2008 2:42PM
I don't know whether a design mimicking $1 HotWheel "made-in-China" car is a great achievement.
3seriesisking @ Apr 29th 2008 2:57PM
For all the idiots who were so sure the earlier pics were renders.....
Berto @ Apr 29th 2008 5:50PM
The idiots will probably continue to whine by saying it's CGI. Very detailed CGI of course.
Brett- BMW Advo @ Apr 29th 2008 7:19PM
haha, yea, what a render! lol
i like how Adrian van Hooydonk at the beginning of the film states that this is just a concept car, a design study. a good way to throw one off from believing it could actually see production.
riggs @ Apr 29th 2008 2:59PM
everytime i see this car from the front i feel like its gonna ask me, ehhh whats up doc?
3seriesisking @ Apr 29th 2008 3:01PM
Cool post. That answers my question as to whether or not it was ever going to make it to production. Really some neat ideas that went into the design.
botox @ Apr 29th 2008 4:07PM
That’s what makes this hideous design so horrible. Usually when a rendering looks real, that’s a good thing. In this case is just the opposite. The design is so bad it looks like some armature did an extremely poor job of 3-D digital modeling but was luck enough to use some idiot proof rendering software to come up with these horrendous imageries!
The original M1 was designed by Guigiaro and Van Doncky is NO Guigiaro. BTW, he looked like cross between bill Murray and Joe Dirt!
3seriesisking @ Apr 29th 2008 8:15PM
Maybe you need to look a little harder
BK @ Apr 29th 2008 3:14PM
What safety concerns do pop-up headlights present?
Mwmorph @ Apr 29th 2008 3:36PM
They've been illegal for years now since, like glass headlights, they tend to kill pedestrians.
mk @ Apr 29th 2008 4:48PM
mwmorph...
Are you serious?... this is the first I am hearing about that.
I noticed that few cars still have them, and the C5 corvette was one of the last hold outs. I figured it was due to the commonality of plastic-lensed flush fit headlights being just as aerodynamic as the headlights down, without having to raise them to use the lights.
If pedestrians are the reason, and there is actually a law, that is as ridiculous as the CAFE regulations, and their consideration of wheelbase, and the proposal of pedestrian airbags.
maybe if pedestrians don't want to die, they should stay out of the road, or be more careful.
If a driver mows down pedestrians not on the roadway, then it should be treated as any other kind of wrongful death criminal case.
by the time the law is finished, we'll all be legislated into our own beige padded cells, for our own protection.
Insane.
Getting hit by a car is hazardous to your health, regardless of glass, plastic, fixed, pop-up, or any other kind of headlight, or whatever.
You can't legislate your way around the laws of physics, two objects made of matter cannot exist in the same place at the same time. It results in catastrophic energy release, based on inertia input (mass and energy combined)
On the topic,
I wanna like the "homage" but somehow it doesn't sit well with me.
Another tangent...
I'd rather have an 850CSi, or Z8, actually. I wish the 645 were as handsome as the 8-series coupe was.
I wonder if someone could release a re-style kit for the 6-series to make it look a bit more like an updated interpretation of the 8-series coupe on the front and rear. Then a 12-cylinder adaptation of the M6's V10...
But honestly, at that point of a V12 GT coupe, Aston Martin is more attractive, anyway.
fawgcutter @ Apr 29th 2008 4:57PM
Has more to do with daylight running light requirements required by countries other than the U.S.
Why bother with the expense, the added aerodynamic drag and potential maintenance problems with pop-up headlights when they have to be on all the time?
That's one of the reasons why GM abandoned them with the current Corvettes. They made daylight running lights standard on all their vehicles.
Moose @ Apr 29th 2008 6:54PM
Like Mwmorph said, its for safety, but not necessarily in the US. European regs have certain pedestrian collision requirements that have hugely impacted (no pun intended) euro car designs. Pop up headlights and hood designs, are just a few examples, all the way up to hood airbags that are being tested.
Brandon @ Apr 29th 2008 3:19PM
drooling OMG It Made it to production omg when is it going to go on sale and how much (I know I could never afforded it )
Fooman @ Apr 29th 2008 3:33PM
OMg it was not a PS... Those rear lights are intentional.
Auday @ Apr 29th 2008 3:41PM
Nice design, but it lost the elegance of the M1 subtle and less aggressive lines.
I wish they were a bit more conservative in general and less aggressive with the futuristic features. The side kind of looks like the old original Vector, and the rims ... oh no comments!
I wish that they have consulted Giugiaro to give them some ideas about the essence of the original M1, this new car also has lots of M1 features it has completely different personality.
However it's less disappointing than you would expect from a team still led by a guy called Bangle.