Automakers often work on vehicles that never reach production. Sometimes, this is because the designers are developing competitive models, and only one of them can get the green list for assembly. In other instances, the market might be leaning away from a particular style, and a project of that type gets the axe.
Stories about never-produced vehicles often take years to come out because automakers have far more reason to tell the public about the models they are actually selling. A new three-volume book pulls back the curtain and reveals several never-before-seen BMWs. Author and auto industry veteran Steve Saxty sat down for an extensive interview with Joe Achilles to reveal some of these secret machines.
BMW Nearly Built An i8 Successor Called The i16
The
arrived with the intriguing idea of being an environmentally friendly sports car. A turbocharged 1.5-liter three-cylinder and a front-axle-mounted electric motor with a combined total output of 359 horsepower in early models and 369 horsepower in later vehicles.
The i16 would have been a production version of the Vision M Next concept. The model’s exterior design has a short front overhang and a long roof like the original
but with a greenhouse similar to the i8. Instead of the i8’s three-cylinder powerplant, this one would have used a four-cylinder engine. BMW had the car 95 percent production-ready before killing the project.
According to Saxty, the automaker decided to build the
instead of the i16. While this coupe was attractive, the company saw a challenge in selling a four-cylinder sports coupe when it was already offering the inline-six-powered M3 and M4 and a V8 in the M8.
Many M1 Successors Never Reached Production
Saxty has a whole section of his presentation dedicated to M1-like coupes that never entered production. The earliest one is a wild design by Joji Nagashima from 1988. He softened the edges of the original M1, creating a vehicle body with a sharp nose but a rounded-off tail.
There’s also a deep look into the
. This car received a full-scale concept, and Saxty revealed that BMW intended to put it into production. The attractive, retro-styled coupe would have used the 5.0-liter V10 engine from the E60-generation M5. Politics surrounding high-powered cars in Germany at the time caused BMW to scrap the project.
There are two design sketches for alternate takes on the M1 Hommage. One has a protruding nose that might draw the ire of the brand’s hardcore fans for being too outrageous. The other vehicle has a more traditional appearance for a sports coupe.
TopSpeed’s Take
BMW fans with a free hour should watch this whole interview, and there’s even another part to check out. Saxty digs deep into the brand’s design history and knows the people responsible for creating these vehicles. There are fascinating stories about cars nearly reaching production and why they look the way they do.
Read the full article here