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Originally Posted by auggiem3
Agreed - we shall see soon.
You just reminded me of a last point. Think of production timelines and costs....an M version is typically released 12 to 18 months after the non-M version. This is b/c the finance guys at BMW know the useful life of a model is 4 to 7 years. If we look at the e46 - the new 3 series was released in 2000 and the M3 followed in 2001. THe e92 came out in 2007 with the M in '08. The new 5 series just dropped as a '10 model and 2011 will offer the M5.
This version of the 1 series has been out for 3 or 4 years, correct? Why introduce an M now and spend all that money engineering it for a 1 or 2 year production run? Be smart, release a slightly modded 135is to judge interest in an M 1 (not simply a poll but how many people are willing to pay up) and use that for amo during the next run to produce an M variant from inception. We've seen BMW do it before BUT we have never seen an M variant come out years after the release of the base platform and only have a 2 year production run....just doesn't make financial sense b/c the cost of engineering and retooling for the M car can't be recouped at a reasonable market-driven price point in that short of a timeline before the new model is released....
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Your argument fails to take into account the fact that you are comparing established product lines versus a new product line. The current M3 is in its 4th generation as a version of a car line in its 5th generation. The current M5 is in its 4th or 5th generation (depending on whether or not you count the E12 M535i as an "M") as a version of a car line in its 5th generation. The 1 series was a completely new car line for BMW and, as such, you really can't make the same comparison. BMW didn't know if there was going to be a market for the car, especially after the 318ti's failure in the US (and 2nd generation failure everywhere else). So you can't compare a potential M version of the 1 series to the others, since you can't be certain an M version was a foregone conclusion of the model range like it is for the 3 and 5, which are well-established.
Also, if you look at the 335is, you see BMW doing an upgrade with off-the-shelf parts from the BMW Performance line . . . no LSD, no bodywork other than bolt-ons. The 1 series mules we've been seeing are clearly more substantial than that, and in more than one shot show LSD's with cooling fins, a bigger M trademark than the quad exhausts so many are focusing on.