BMW M1 Concept at MIMS

By Alborz Fallah | February 27th, 2009

Perhaps the most interesting car at this year’s Melbourne motorshow is BMW’s M1 supercar concept.

The German powerhouse has the largest stand here in Melbourne and to showcase their lineup, the orange M1 concept sits beautifully in the middle.

The new M1 pays tribute to the original back some 30 years ago. Back then the original BMW M1 had a mid-mounted 6-cylinder engine that just made over 200kW of power. How times change.

The new M1 not only looks a million times better but it’s also powered by an upgraded version of BMW’s familiar 5.0-litre V10, putting out an enorous 378kW of power.

The M1 is purely a design concept to show-off the expertise of BMW’s design team, however if it ever does go into produciton it will compete against the Audi R8, Porsche 911 Carrera, Ferrari F430 and perhaps even Aston Martin’s V8 Vantage.

The M1 is by far one of the most interesting cars at this year’s show.

matt

yes it is!
topdog

I love this car looks great hope thay make it
Bavarian Missile (.)(.)

Cool looking car BMW,but I have to say the doova loova and wheels look a little dated and seems the designer had 2 BMW badges left over and whilst standing at the rear said to himself “what am I going to do with these” With arms out stretched he stuck them either side of the boot lid…..looks wrong !
Frenchie

Looks like an update of the 8 series. That had the V12 engine. Proto type produced 410kw.
Al Juraj

When the Audi R8 was launched, it always occurred at the back of my head that BMW can come up with something better. Is this the sign of things to come? It probably won’t be named the M1, but they should simply build it. If something like the M3 can compete with a 911, what more could a lighter machine with the same power do? I’m perceiving something that will sit above the Z4 and finally redefine the sports car. Z6 is a likely moniker.
Bavarian Missile (.)(.)

Yeah this wasnt going to be their Supercar,remember the M10….550hp and weighing in at 1200kgs was suggested.

http://jalopnik.com/cars/gossip/new-bmw-supercar-the-m10-coming-in-2009-tuner-version-already-planned-201182.php
BMW Knowledge

Bavarian Missile said “…and seems the designer had 2 BMW badges left over and whilst standing at the rear said to himself “what am I going to do with these” With arms out stretched he stuck them either side of the boot lid…..looks wrong !”

The idea of this car was to pay homage to the original M1. You don’t recall the original M1 having a similar two badge design at the rear?

The original M1 design came from the renowned Italian ‘Giugiaro’who has desgined many famous cars for Maserati, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Toyota and Daewoo… Hmmmmm. The two badge design at the back was a mistake, really… ;c)
Bavarian Missile (.)(.)

Mate I dont care what the original M1 had ,it still looked stupid!

Who cares if the designer was renowned ! What does that prove ?