BMW To Focus On Weight Reduction For Future M Models, Not Power

The product planning chief of BMW's M performance division says that future fast BMWs won't necessarily have more power, but they will have less weight.

“We want to be in a different league for power-to-weight, but we prefer to have a car that weighs 1,000kg rather than one with 1,000 horsepower,” says BMW M's Carsten Pries. 

Pries also said that having all-wheel drive (xDrive in BMW-speak) went against this philosophy.

“What is the point of taking out 80kg if you are going to put 75kg back through xDrive?" he said.

However, while an all-paw M3 or M5 aren't likely, the X5 M and X6 M performance SUVs were likely to continue as AWD products.

Future M cars will also build upon the extensive work done to pare back the weight of the new M3, as well as the M4 that replaces the previous-gen M3 Coupe.

Thanks to a number of weight-saving technologies such as the use of carbon fibre and aluminium, the new M3 weighs around 80kg less than its predecessor.