BMW has made plenty of cars that are super-fast, but there’s only one BMW supercar: The M1. Its engine is in the middle, it was designed to go racing and its history is very complicated. Production only lasted from 1978 to 1981, yet fans of the brand refuse to forget about the M1, often wondering why a successor isn’t available.
The BMW M1 is the kind of car every designer wishes he’d be commissioned to create. And many just do it for free because it’s such an interesting, provocative idea: a mid-engined supercar from the company known for the M5 sports sedan and the X5 SUV.
The latest attempt at reviving the BMW M1 comes from one of our favorite rendering artists ever, Hycade. Usually, he makes widebody versions of the coolest existing models, but that’s clearly not the case with this M1. In his words, this is the kind of car BMW would have made 10 years ago, back when it used smaller grilles.
Hycade gave his BMW M1 “concept” compact, sleek proportions. This isn’t an overstated Lamborghini with pointy edges; it’s more functional and understated, like a Porsche 911. In fact, you can barely even call it a supercar because it doesn’t have gaping intakes on the sides. It’s more like a Carrera with its cylinders in a row.
The best thing about this rendering is how believably it borrows design elements from the original M1 and uses them in a modern way. For example, the rear window louvers are mixed in with a modern BMW rear bumper that reminds you of the M3. The badges are smaller than on a 330i and the wheels have decent amounts of rubber on them.
Why BMW won’t make another M1
The BMW M1 is one of those rumors which refuses to die. Only a few years back, I read a report from British media that a new BMW supercar would arrive, powered by a fancy hybrid engine. Of course, that never happened, and it seems the Bavarians would rather we forget about its other mid-engined creation.
The automotive world was shocked when the i8 came out looking just like its preview concept, a mid-engined machine that could rival a McLaren in the looks department. Of course, with a 1.5-liter engine, it didn’t drive like a supercar, and we’ve heard reports that BMW isn’t offering owners much support in the replacement parts department.
The real M1 successor emerged in 2008 when BMW unveiled a concept on the shores of Lake Como. Of course, this came out at a bad time and never got approved for production because there also wasn’t a need for it.
In the 1970s, BMW wanted a way to better compete with Porsche on the race track. They needed a bespoke sports car, a homologation special. But it had numerous problems, from the issues with Lamborghinis to the fact that it cost more than a Ferrari and only came with a 3.5-liter straight-six developing 277 horsepower. So even though the M1 is right at the core of the brand, it’s more likely to return as an EV than a real supercar, at least in our opinion.
