Quote:
Originally Posted by ozinaldo
"...the head of "M" was away on a two-week trip and the staff put everything together, like kids doing something while the parents are out; they knew that they could not get approval for spending the time and effort..."
That's the spirit behind our beauties  |
It evidently really was like that. The M guys wanted to do an M version of the 1 Series. The staff were thinking + discussing design ideas, etc. that were analogous to the more structured M3/M5 product. They ran the ideas upstream but were told that it just couldn't be done logistically and financially. But they just continued on their own and came up with a "quick and dirty" approach (when compared to BMW's normal OCD style).
They basically presented the project as a "we've got an answer to all your objections." With all of the general design and engineering work done, they were given the okay. The answer to "we have no line capacity" was to have it built during the few periods when the 1 Series line was not needed for ongoing production.
M did the car for fun - they're just big car guys and this was kind of a "garage tuner" dream project. NO one thought it would be received the way it was, which is why the initial number was to be 2,500. Instead, they were concerned the 1M wouldn't sell even that many.
D'oh!