The next BMW M3 will likely retain the combustion engine. However, the M division is also building an electric car with a fake engine sound.
BMW knows what customers want. Or so the M department thinks. That's why the next M3 in the line-up will get both a fake engine sound and artificial gear shifts.
The Germans intend to cover up the fact that they are actually also making an electric car out of upcoming M3s. That is, at the same time as it gets a sibling with a combustion engine.
Specifically, the M department is keeping the familiar inline-six alive because M boss Frank van Meel insists that 4-cylinders are far too few. Read more about it here.
But back to the electric M3. Or at least the upcoming electric M3. BMW hasn't wanted to say too much about the car yet.
But from the Germans' own videos about it, it is clear that both fake engine sounds and computer-generated gear shifts are on the menu.
The latest video about the development of the car is almost 8 minutes long, and the Germans really do everything they can to increase the suspense. It is only at the very end that we are allowed to hear something. That is, of what BMW thinks is 'engine sound'.
Unfortunately, the video is cut just as the car is accelerating. Therefore, we don't know if the sound changes with the car's speed. But something could indicate that.
A third thing is that BMW is not throwing everything overboard in the pursuit of electric cars. Just as the inline-six survives in the second version of the upcoming M3, the Germans have no intention of putting the V8 engine in the grave.
The explanation is quite simple – the market and thus the demand is simply too big. Unfortunately, there is much evidence that the Germans will have to fight against a lot of weight.
In any case, it is and has been a compromise that BMW has had to make. Otherwise, the V8 engine cannot meet the increasingly strict emission requirements in markets such as Europe.
However, BMW has one regret when it comes to the new M5: they didn't say anything about the car's weight when it was launched. Since then, the discussion has almost overshadowed the car itself.
The latest M5 is also a record-breaking heavy car. It weighs a whopping 2.5 tons. This is due, among other things, to the heavy battery pack. The M5 is, for the first time ever, a plug-in hybrid.
But in a new interview, Frank van Meel makes it clear that he let the car's weight slip because someone outside the brand had had the opportunity to sit behind the wheel.
– That (talking about the car's weight, ed.) is a mistake we will never make again, says the M boss, according to Australian Carsales .
