BMW to take on Audi’s R8?

Unless you’ve been under a rock (or perhaps not interested in high-end cars), you’ve surely heard of Audi’s amazing R8 supercar. It’s got it all: style, performance and grace, and deals with all of them in a fresh new way that other companies (even Ferrari, in fact) may have difficulty matching. The R8 is both a performance car and a technophile’s dream, and it makes no bones about it.

BMW, on the other hand, have been busy uglying up their cars for the past few years. Certainly, performance is still good, and reliability is said to have been improved, but a quick look at a new M3 or M5, and one realizes that the dream is over. These cars are so ugly that all desire for speed or performance is ripped from one’s body at the very sight of the curvy little headlamps.

The question has been posed: can a company now busy with ruining previously good cars release a car that is good enough to take on Audi’s new juggernaut? If a new BMW concept is any indication… maybe.

A bit of background information may be warranted here: in 1979, BMW released one of its most famous (and shortlived) cars: the M1. Don’t confuse this with some kind of performance version of the current 1-series; instead, the M1 was a child of dealings between BMW and Lamborghini, and as such was perhaps the first german car since the Karmann-Ghia to truly look Italian.

In fact, from the slanted nose to the hidden-headlights, the car was all Lambo, with the sole exception of the BMW trademark “Mustache” gracing the front end.

Technically, the car wasn’t that great, and it was abhorrently expensive for 1979, and so, the project was quickly hosed. Some photos of the old M1 can be found here.

Math majors may have already deduced that 1979 is soon-to-be 30 years ago, and BMW has felt the need to release a new concept M1, dubbed the “Homage.” Wait no further, here it is:

First glance? Yes, it’s ugly. But then again, they don’t want it looking any better than a new M3 or M5, so… I suppose they’ve succeeded in that.

However, this concept could prove interesting. From Top Gear:

With similar proportions to the original M1 - though with a longer wheelbase - the Hommage sits wide and low, and frankly looks a little bit scary. Sinister, even. In a nod to the M1’s flip-up headlights, the four headlights hide behind the front fascia, meaning they’re near-invisible until lit.

What we really have here is a company trying to make another slant nose car, but this time without Italian assistance. Too bad, really. They could really use the help.

Again, from Top Gear:

More echoes of the Seventies icon can be seen in the slatted rear deck and bonnet vents, but that strange love-it-or-hate-it ‘flame surfacing’ is pure modern Bangle styling. There are, of course, the standard high-concept touches - tiny wing mirrors, invisible door handles, oversized shiny alloys…

What is it about concepts that dictates the always-over-the-top wheels?

They look like mobiles made from aluminum cans that you buy at county fairs; if I had those on my car, I’d shoot myself. Really. Thankfully, they’re not real.

Other than the concept wheels, there are a few things that I would observe about this car; take a look at some other shots, and then see what I mean:

PROS:

• The side-profile from the A-pillar back is gorgeous.

• The rear-lamps are gorgeous.

• The headlamps (not to be confused with the entire front) are a pleasing return to the old twin headlamp setup of BMWs from yesteryear.

CONS:

• The front-end. It’s ugly. This is one car on which the BMW signature “Mustache” is not becoming.

• The back-end. Really. And while I’m at it, the dual emblem setup (having a BMW logo on each side) is terrible. There needs to be one in the middle, and only one. (Yes, I understand, the old M1 had two. Whoopti-friggin-do. It was ugly then, it’s ugly now.)

• The Hood. Does it really need all those slats? I think not. The R8 has a much more pleasing hood, with plenty of reflective space to see yourself drooling. The BMW… not so much.

So, what does all this mean? Well, in a nutshell, if this car (or something very similar) ever made it to production to compete with the Audi R8, there would be no contest. The R8 would almost certainly win on style, and any performance increase offered by the M1 (which would most likely be little anyway) would be consequently moot. Honestly, do you think that there is any contest here?

I didn’t think so.

We’ve already deduced that the M1 was a collaboration between BMW and Lamborghini. Interestingly enough, Audi and Lamborghini now share the same parent company (Volkswagen). I think we’ve discovered a common denominator here between the R8 and the M1: Lambo.

Maybe BMW will buy out the Italian brand, to give any new M1 a chance.