You, in all probability, do not keep in mind the BMW Imaginative and prescient M Subsequent idea from 2019. The svelte sports activities automobile was supposed to exchange the i8 and usher in a brand new period of electrified efficiency for the BMW M model. As an alternative, the idea was relegated to the historical past books, by no means to see the sunshine of day.

However, that just about wasn’t the case.

In a latest interview revealed by automotive YouTuber Joe Achilles, BMW writer and historian Steve Saxty explains how the BMW Imaginative and prescient M Subsequent idea—internally known as the i16—almost made it to manufacturing. Saxty says the automobile was “95% prepared” and that the idea’s design was near what the ultimate manufacturing mannequin would have seemed like.

“All the surfaces are mature versus cartoon-like,” stated Saxty. “And [BMW had] completed far more than that beneath the floor; they’ve completed physique engineering as properly.”

BMW had deliberated to place a four-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain within the i16 with upwards of 600 horsepower. That will give the automobile a 0-62 mile-per-hour time of three.0 seconds and a prime pace of 186. It could even be capable of driving as much as 62 miles on a single charge (on the European cycle).

BMW continued work on the hybrid sports activities automobile all through the COVID-19 pandemic and deliberated to launch it someday in 2022. However, earlier than it reached the manufacturing line, the corporate shifted gears (pun meant) and greenlit one other car as a substitute: the XM.

“They only needed to decide, ‘Will we go together with that or XM?'” Saxty revealed.

The XM was marketed as the BMW M1’s successor when it debuted for the 2022 mannequin 12 months. However, the plug-in hybrid SUV hasn’t precisely been well received. Gross sales of the XM are down 30% this 12 months, and the corporate is already contemplating axing someday within the subsequent few years.

So is there an opportunity we see a real M1 successor someday within the near future? It’s not utterly out of the realm of chance.

“Each day at BMW, somebody is designing a brand new M1,” Saxty stated.