BMW showed us how they envision the future of performance cars with electric motors. The BMW Vision M NEXT is supposed to be a plug-in hybrid with around 600 HP that will serve as a halo car most likely, or as a successor to the popular i8. What’s certain is that the Vision M NEXT has a design that’s inspired by both the past and the present, while taking things into the future. As you can see, there are clearly parts of the i8 and the M1 in it, from certain angles.
The front fenders and the doors are definitely giving off an i8 vibe. At the same time, the fact that this car has been penned as a mid-engine model can’t help, but immediately bring the iconic M1 to mind. The video below aims to shed some light into the design issue, with the two people who signed off on it taking to the stage and talking about their creation: Adrian van Hooykdonk (Senior Vice President BMW Group Design) and Domagoj Dukec (Head of BMW Design).
According to them, the car is a statement, a very intelligent interpretation of the sports car. Domagoj even says that the car was inspired by the M1 and the i8 and that it wasn’t by accident. The rear-end features elements hinting at the M1, which had two BMW roundels on the back, to make sure people knew it was a BMW. The diffuser on the rear bumper is also making a statement as it is pretty huge and is made of recycled carbon fiber. This is, therefore, a sports car with an eco-friendly character, just like the BMW i8 before it.
Inside, everything was kept to a bare minimum, aiming at allowing the driver and the vehicle to become one. Modern and sustainable materials have been used to put together the cabin. One of the biggest novelties here though, is the technology used inside, from the curved glass to the augmented reality, which looks amazing.
