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The BMW M1 is by far one of the most legendary BMWs ever made. It was a true supercar. There were a few attempts to revive it as well and have a true successor to the mid-engine supercar, but sadly, it never materialised.
The M1 was sold from 1978 to 1981. This was the first proper M car and was developed solely by the M division. Initial plans were to build a car with Lamborghini, but that never materialised, so BMW M was on their own. The resulting car was a timeless piece of kit, which was developed with a purpose, and that was to dominate in motorsports.
The M1 got a 3.5L inline-six engine, which produced 273 bhp and 330 Nm of torque. It was all hand-built as well. The body was made out of fibreglass and designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro. The body was built in Italy, and then it was sent to Germany, where these cars got their heart planted. Only 399 units of the vehicle were ever built.
The M1 was quite successful in motorsports as well. They ran in Group 4 classification; there was a Procar BMW M1 Championship in which a lot of F1 drivers raced as well. It also participated in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and it was also supposed to race in the Group B rally.
Well, BMW did try to bring the M1 back a couple of times. There was the BMW M1 Homage concept, which was showcased in 2008. It was essentially a modernised version of the M1. Then came the BMW i8, which was essentially the second BMW mid-engine car ever made. It was somewhat of a successor, but it was never built for racing, and it never had the “M” division work behind it.
We did come very close to a BMW M1 successor, though. BMW was working on an “M” division flagship vehicle, and the BMW Vision M Next concept was revealed in 2019. It was going to have a hybrid powertrain. Sadly, BMW thought that they would be better off producing an SUV and the XM was approved rather than the M1.
This was recently revealed: that BMW actually binned a 95% finished M1 and chose to build the XM instead. Mind took over heart, and we had received a monstrosity of a vehicle rather than a nimble sports car. The XM did not even fare well in the market, which is an even sadder demise to the idea of the Vision M Next concept.
