BMW M boss Frank van Meel on affordable M cars and the electric M3

The least expensive full-fat BMW M model, the M2, is priced from £68,795 in the UK. Step up to the CS, complete with ceramic brakes, and the cost climbs beyond £90k. Even BMW’s cheapest semi-M performance model, the not especially impressive M135 hot hatch, comes in at almost £45,000. That is a substantial sum.

When TopGear.com spoke to M Division CEO Frank van Meel last week, our first question was whether approving more affordable M cars is becoming tougher amid costly 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 and the challenge of affordable performance

As Ford, Renault and, shortly, AMG withdraw from the hot-hatch market, might the M Division move in with further hot hatches and capture some of that share? Van Meel was not hugely enthusiastic about the prospect, although he offered a thorough 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 particular demands of individual countries are what make planning future vehicles such a complex 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.”

Who would want to be a car-company boss? By ‘diversifying drivetrains’, van Meel means providing alternative powertrain choices for comparable cars. This explains the current range of electric M Performance models, including the iX M70 and i4 M50; plug-in hybrid M cars such as the M5 and XM; and combustion-powered stalwarts including the M2, M3 and M8. That is only the beginning.

The next BMW M3: petrol and electric versions

The M Division is now refining what may be its most contentious programme to date: two forms 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, supported by a bajillion Euros of BMW investment and presenting M loyalists with a major decision.

How is that work progressing, then? Are the teams behind the electric M3 and combustion M3 in contact, or bound by secrecy? Could they even be sabotaging one another’s homework?

“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.” Clearly, he must be a busy man.

Frank says this shared approach has enabled each car to improve as it seeks to outperform the other, and insists that the EV will not be treated as the lesser model. “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 points out that the EV will definitely be quicker.

Regulations and BMW M’s changing performance targets

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

“It's not actually,” he said with optimism. “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.”