What’s BMW’s game with the 1M?

[Pete_vB]

I’ve been doing a little thinking about the 1M, and I’m puzzled because I don’t see how it can make money.

2700 units, less than 1000 to the US(?) is beyond small these days for a lower priced car from a volume manufacture. BMW is developing new version of a car to be produced in numbers most manufactures (BMW included) wouldn’t consider worth importing to the US alone, even if the car is already developed and selling in Europe. If they had developed the car two years ago and sold 10x the volume then the ROI would be justifiable, but this generation one series is about to go away, and they are spending the same R&D and marketing budget over a tiny number of units. Why now?

I have a theory: I suspect the 1M was green-lighted largely due to the path of the next M3s development.

BMW has consciously moved the M3 away from “Sports” and towards “Grand Touring” over the years, as that’s what the market has dictated. And they plan to keep moving in that direction whether they like it or not (RIP normal aspiration). But they have left the original concept and market far behind in the process, leaving an ever larger hole in their product line...

I imagine the internal debates at the factory going on over the next M3 going something like:
“We need a sharper, more involving, lighter car like the original.”
“But today’s M3 buyers want more amenities, not less.”
“Sales are hurting in the recession. We can’t afford to take the M3 further up-market…”
“Hold on a second, why not make two of them?”

So BMW split the next gen M3 into two cars, or at least that seems what they are trying tell us with their marketing references to the E30. This way BMW can make the rawer, sharper car while moving safely moving the M3 even further towards a “Grand Touring”. Of course some current M3 fans are going to take a little while to get used to the idea (and the idea of a turbo M car), so they might as well get us warming up to the idea now.

Preparing or testing the ground before committing to this path (and grabbing some headlines in an off year) would seem to give BMW the ROI they need to justify the project even with the limited number built.

For those of us who are less than thrilled by how far towards GT the M3 has already gone this seems a good thing. And if BMWs using this as the launchpad maybe they won't neuter it vs the M3 quite as much as Porsche would. And yes it’s turbo, but for a street car I’ll take the extra torque and 50% better fuel economy.

Speculation on my part, of course, but it sounds good to me. In any case as another ex E46 owner who wouldn’t consider an E92, I’m certainly looking forward to the something more like a old M3 regardless of what they name it.

[Brandon26pdx]

I'm somewhat surprised and have to give them a little bit of credit they even bothered making this car. For the longest time the story was "no, no E82M", but, we'll see how crazy the bimmerphiles are about it once they start hitting the showrooms. I remember how rabid everyone was about the 135i a fews years ago, but honestly I think they've been a bit of a sales flop as far as BMW is concerned. The coolest cars often are since just don't appeal to the everyday "sensible shoes" car buying audience.