BMW M chief Frank van Meel on affordable M cars and the future

The UK’s least expensive full-fat BMW M model, the M2, is priced from £68,795. Choose the CS, complete with certain ceramic brakes, and the figure climbs beyond £90,000. Even BMW’s entry-level semi-M offering, the not especially impressive M135 hot hatch, costs close to £45,000. That is a substantial sum.

When TopGear.com spoke with M Division chief executive Frank van Meel last week, our first question concerned whether approving more affordable M cars is becoming increasingly difficult amid expensive components, tighter margins and EV targets.

““Well, it's a challenge for the next generation to keep that up, to get a very potent small affordable car. It's not getting easier.”” he admitted. ““But we try to keep that up because that's who we are, and we want to have this entry in the future to the world of high performance.””

BMW M hot hatches and changing powertrains

With Ford, Renault and, shortly, AMG stepping away from the hot-hatch sector, might the M Division move in with additional hot hatches to capture some of that market? Van Meel was not particularly enthusiastic, although he set out a detailed explanation.

““It's getting more difficult actually. We are diversifying drivetrains because we want to have the perfect offer for everyone. We are going to offer more cars in the future with different drivetrains, so we have to decide what's more important: to offer combustion and electric [power] or to offer a different kind of car?””

According to Frank, the individual demands of each country are what make planning future vehicles such a complicated problem.

““The world is changing so fast and every country is different. If you look at Europe, Europe is divided into north, south, east, west – in the Nordic countries, I think it's 90 per cent electric already, whereas in the Eastern countries it's ‘give me more V8s’.”

““In the UK you have a strict CO2 policy. In France you get punished for CO2: for an M2 this year you pay €70,000 over three years in CO2 tax. Next year it's going to be €80,000, and then the year afterwards €90,000… then there's a weight tax. So you need to have a broad portfolio. And that's currently our biggest effort: so that if a country changes CO2 regulations, you might skip from one bookend to the other one.

““It's a very big Sudoku puzzle with a lot of numbers. We try to have the right answers in place.””

It is not an enviable role for a car-company boss. By ‘diversifying drivetrains’, van Meel is referring to multiple powertrain options across comparable cars. This is why BMW now offers electric M Performance models, including the iX M70 and i4 M50; plug-in hybrid M cars, namely the M5 and XM; and combustion-only stalwarts such as the M2, M3 and M8. That is only the beginning.

BMW M3 EV and M3 ICE development

The M Division is now refining what may be its most contentious undertaking to date: two versions of the forthcoming BMW M3. One will use a turbocharged straight-six petrol engine, while the other will be entirely electric. It is one legendary badge with two powertrain choices, backed by a bajillion Euros of BMW investment and presenting M loyalists with a major decision.

How is the work progressing, then? Are the M3 EV and M3 ICE development teams in contact, or bound by secrecy? Could they even be interfering with one another’s work?

““We are a very small company, so we cannot do two different silos. We're too small for that,”” he said. ““So we have development groups like Chassis Engineering, Vehicle Dynamics: the same people do both cars. Of course, there is a little split on the Drivetrain [teams] but the guy who's responsible for the electrification is also involved in the EU7 combustion engine.”” He must be a busy bloke.

Frank says this shared approach has enabled each model to push the other to improve, while insisting that the EV will not be treated as the lesser car. ““I think the funny thing is that if you also look at the suppliers, for instance at the Nürburgring, you can hear a little bit of what they like and don't like. They all want to drive the electric one because they say, ‘this is insane!’”” He later adds that the EV will undoubtedly be quicker.

Regulations and BMW M’s future challenge

Our final question for Frank was this: how do you lead the high-performance skunkworks of a mainstream manufacturer, meet every objective, satisfy shareholders and avoid alienating enthusiasts? Is the role becoming more difficult, perhaps even impossible?

““It's not actually,”” he said optimistically. ““For me, it's like in racing, the BOP [balance of performance] changes all the time.

““When you're used to that, you just have to think ahead. What would you do if someone punishes you with more weight in the car, or with less power, or different aerodynamics?

““The same goes for regulation. What happens if the world changes in one direction? What would be your technological answer? So I quite like it, because I think that is the biggest challenge for every CEO right now: to figure out how you can prepare for a very uncertain situation, and answer every possible change in demand.

““But if you wait until it changes, you're too late, because it takes you four years at least to get the products.””