Rumormill: BMW working on 'green' M1 supercar to rival Audi R8
by Jeremy Korzeniewski on Sep 24th 2009 at 2:26PM 
BMW Vision Efficient Dynamics Concept - Click above for high-res image gallery
Will the Vision EfficientDynamics Concept that BMW debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier this month spawn a production eco-friendly supercar from the German automaker? According to Auto Express, the answer is yes, and the U.K. publication is projecting that the new green M1 will be ready for sale in 2012.
Naturally, the heart of this rumor-spec supercar is a hybrid powertrain similar to the one shown off in Frankfurt. A turbocharged three-cylinder diesel engine displacing 1.5-liters would be used in conjunction with a pair of electric motors providing all-wheel drive capabilities. The run to 60 mph would theoretically take less than five seconds and top speed would reportedly be capped at 155 mph.
Other unique bits that were introduced on the Vision Concept that could potentially make it into production include active aerodynamic elements that allow for an excellent .22 coefficient of drag. An unknown source tells AE that the car's hybrid powertrain, dual clutch gearbox (pulled from the M3) and aluminum-intensive chassis are all "ready for the road."
If there's any truth to this rumor, the new eco-friendly M1 successor would be marketed as a rival to the Audi R8 and would potentially hit the market with a price well north of $100,000. We'll see.
Gallery: BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept
[Source: Auto Express]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Azael 2:31PM (9/24/2009)
This sounds like an awesome idea, best of all Russians wont need to put BMW badges on their R8 anymore!
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Azael 2:32PM (9/24/2009)
Heres the link the BMW R8:
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/08/22/audi-r8-the-ultimate-driving-machine/
xtasi 2:32PM (9/24/2009)
the headlights remind me of the current Camaro, very cool.
i'm confused with "two motors to provide awd" and the SMG from the M3? i thought electric motors normally didn't use transmissions (remember tesla had a 2speed, then had issues and went back to one, did they ever go back to two?) Are they going with a , i guess regular, hybrid for rear wheels, then a separate motor for the front wheels? wouldn't it be better to go the Volt route, use the electric motors for driving and the diesel only for charging the batteries?
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glovesoff 6:44PM (9/24/2009)
the current camaro? how about current bmw's. the camaro ripped off bmw's halo headlights. bmw started the halos/angel eyes in the production 5 series about 10 years ago.
Luis 2:38PM (9/24/2009)
I love that grille. Holy smokes
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F50 2:39PM (9/24/2009)
Good luck, this concept looks good, but the front looks so much like a Challenger.
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zamafir 2:46PM (9/24/2009)
"Rumormill: BMW working on 'green' M1 supercar to rival Audi R8"
... duh.
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Todd 2:55PM (9/24/2009)
"...the car's hybrid powertrain, dual clutch gearbox and aluminum-intensive chassis are all ready for the road."
Awesome.
I wonder where this will take us. Big Oil is so heavily invested in the idea that performance cars *must* use gasoline, what happens when they don't?
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Nathan 3:17PM (9/24/2009)
lol at big oil conspiracy thinking. And cars are going to use gasoline for a long time to come.... Including this one.
xtasi 6:19PM (9/24/2009)
@Todd: not sure what you mean by "big oil". The country of Dubai has large investment in alternate fuel technologies. So does Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BP and just about every other large oil refinery. While we may lower the use of gasoline, we'll still be paying "big oil" for our fuel (be it hydrogen, wind, solar or for the batteries).
If you think that big oil is reaping obscene profits, it's easy to remedy that. Buy stock from them... then you will be reaping obscene profits... I think your opinion on the matter would change. Owning stock also have the benefits of letting you get a vote on how the company handles business... imagine that.
auto.design 2:56PM (9/24/2009)
Haven't rumors of a new M1 been tossed around for a while now? And it seems every time BMW denies them, so for now I'm not getting my hopes up. But it would be nice.....
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Visnick 3:20PM (9/24/2009)
How about they just make a real supercar (with a real big engine) to rival the R8 that also happens to not be ugly
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Dan 3:35PM (9/24/2009)
What exactly is it that's green or super about this ?
6 figures for a dumb way of building a 370Z....
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z-man 3:54PM (9/24/2009)
Just release the car the way it look right now and don't change a thing. End of story.
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mitchw 4:09PM (9/24/2009)
If they can get it to weigh about 2500 lbs, then they'll have something ganz super!
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BoxerFanatic 5:04PM (9/24/2009)
How is it that I find the juxtaposition of the words
"supercar to rival Audi R8"
and
"1.5 liter 3-cylinder diesel, with electric drive"
to somehow be at odds with each other.
Power has to come from somewhere, and it has to be stored somewhere. A diesel fuel tank, including heating elements to keep it more liquid than gel in the cold... AND a host of electric buffer batteries is NOT going to make that car light-weight.
If they are lithium batteries, I have voiced my concern about a fire-hazard before... and it seems like a daily occurrence as I work with laptops that the batteries no longer hold appreciable charge duration, or that they are swelling out of their casings.
And I want to be nowhere near a lithium battery stack in a car accident.
Even if a 1.5 liter diesel runs at a steady state all the time, it has to build up significant electrical capacitance to be able to power electric motors at the performance level that is indicated. Power doesn't come from wishful thinking.
Even if it does have high discharge rate batteries, that is a lot of current, and will deplete those batteries VERY fast. Much faster than an R8 drains it's fuel tank being driven similarly.
Somehow the equation just doesn't seem balanced, to this fairly casual observer.
Just because an electric motor is rated to exert a certain amount of kinetic energy, doesn't mean it will do so if it's supply of electric current is insufficient, or easily exhausted. And a 1.5 liter 3-cylinder diesel generator on board seems like it would have a hard time keeping up with that sort of electrical demand, when the power output of the electric motors supposedly greatly exceeds the power output of the diesel generator.
I think series hybrid is probably the way to go, for an intentional clean-sheet hybrid power (not hybrid drive) design. but the energy source has to meet or exceed the energy demand, a buffer of capacitance does not magically multiply the energy supply.
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Farris 5:37PM (9/24/2009)
"Power has to come from somewhere, and it has to be stored somewhere. A diesel fuel tank, including heating elements to keep it more liquid than gel in the cold... AND a host of electric buffer batteries is NOT going to make that car light-weight."
While I agree with the basic idea of this statement, I must correct one detail: Most diesels nowadays don't have tank warmers. That's pretty much just for the WVO guys.
naggs 8:49PM (9/24/2009)
the flexibility of battery shape and location allows the added weight to be placed in the ideal spot, will hurt acceleration numbers but deff help cornering and braking esp at every day speeds
the instant on torque of electric motors more than offsets the weight of a relatively small battery pack
i know GM and their partners have commited to using a different chemistry, Iron-phosphate, there is a video floating around the intertubes where they drill a hole right thru a fully charged cell and nothing. that contrasts extremely with the Li ion which basically exploded.
naggs 8:53PM (9/24/2009)
also, don't forget that the batterys will be getting back 80% of the kinetic energy under braking. imagine a twisty mountain road, the diesel only has to provide maybe half of what you are describing
Jake 5:29PM (9/24/2009)
The BMW grill, which looks very nice on a sedan, looks awkward and out-of-place on a sports car.
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