BMW shows off its big-grille M Hybrid V8 LMDh Prototype racer

The LMDh Prototype programs for lots of manufacturers are starting to see the light of day, and this time it’s BMW’s turn to reveal its new hypercar. It’ll be called the BMW M Hybrid V8, and today marks our first good look at the hybrid racecar.

“The most critical task and the greatest challenge for the design team in the LMDh program design team was that the prototype must be clearly recognizable as a BMW M Motorsport car,” said Franciscus van Meel, CEO of BMW M. “And I can say this to all the fans, just one look is enough to confirm that the BMW M Hybrid V8 is a BMW.”

That “one look” is very likely meant to be at the front of the new hypercar, because BMW managed to squeeze in an enormous kidney grille in the otherwise svelte front end. There’s more than just a grille to tie it to BMW, though. Designers gave the mirrors the typical M “hook” mirrors, a Hofmeister kink window graphic and the BMW M 50th Anniversary logo on the hood.

And then there’s the livery. BMW is using a unique livery for the M Hybrid V8 in testing, and it uses images of historic racecars throughout. According to BMW, you’ll be able to see the 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL, 1981 BMW M1/C, 1978 BMW 320i Turbo, 1986 BMW GTP, BMW M3 E36 GTS-2, BMW Z4 GTLM and BMW M8 GTE. Of course, this is not the final livery you’ll see on track competing for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This one’s meant to disguise the car’s design throughout testing, so expect to see the final livery design once the car is complete and ready to go racing.

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