The sports-oriented BMW M subdivision will celebrate its 50th birthday next year, and rumors are coming in that a particularly extreme coupe named iM2 is underway for the occasion.
British media claim that the car is provisionally known inside of BMW M as “Katharina”. Allegedly, it uses the next-gen G42 body design and benefits from a four-motor powertrain summing up for around 1,360 horsepower (1,000 kilowatts). This would enable it to lap up the North Loop in under 7 minutes and hit 100 km/h (62 mph) in between 2 and 2.5 seconds from the start.
A different anonymous source claims that the car will be less powerful, and will not debut next year. Instead, the company will first unveil a special concept vehicle that it had originally planned for premiere this summer (see video).
Whatever the actual case, a powerful M2 prototype has recently been spotted testing outdoors (see the photos).
In addition, BMW itself mentioned that an M version was coming for the new i4 SUV and the 2 Series Gran Coupe. The latter could come out under the name of i2, although this is still not finalized. As for the M5 saloon, it should not go electric until three years later.
It looks like the Bavarian automaker probed the ground for an entry-level sports car ten years ago when it launched a limited series of battery-powered ActiveE coupes. The batch utilized the 1 Series Coupe chassis design and had 170 PS (168 hp / 125 kW) along with 250 nm (183 lb-ft) of torque at its disposal. Its 32-kWh traction battery gave it up to 151 kilometers (93 miles) of all-electric range.