Collaborations are always fun, especially when they come in the form of two very different things. In music, when two extremely different artists get together to make a song or album, like the recently advertised Lady Gaga and Tony Bennett Christmas album, it’s always entertaining. Or when two very different actors come together in the kind of movie that wouldn’t typically feature both, like dramatic Oscar-winning Kevin Spacey and funnyman Jason Bateman in Horrible Bosses, it can turn out to be a riot. In cars, collaborations can be fun too.
BMW isn’t averse to collaborating with unlike automakers. Back in the late ’70s, BMW tried collaborating with Lamborghini on the M1 (though that didn’t turn out so well), in the late ’90s the Bavarians worked with McLaren to create what is possibly the greatest supercar of all time, the McLaren F1 and recently BMW is said to be collaborating with Toyota. So BMW knows how to play nice with others.
Just a couple of months ago, there were rumors of BMW again working with McLaren to create another supercar, though those rumors were soon squashed. Prior to our hopes and dreams being crushed, BMW fans the world over started to shiver with excitement about the possibilities of BMW working with McLaren again. We wanted that collaboration between two of the greatest automakers of all time. And why wouldn’t we? To have two incredible car companies putting their heads together to make one car could only result in the kind of transcendent car that only comes around once in a lifetime ( re-read: McLaren F1 ).
But, unfortunately, BMW isn’t working with McLaren. It could be working with Toyota in the future, but nothing’s set in stone and who knows what could come of that anyway. It’s been quite some time since BMW collaborated with another company to create a car and it seems like the time is now. There is so much exciting new technology and performance potential in today’s automotive era that having two car companies put their heads together seems like it could only make magic happen. So, which car company would you most like to see BMW collaborate with?
My choice would be the obvious, McLaren. There are others that could potentially be exciting, like Jaguar or Aston Martin. But the idea of this sort of collaboration is to get two companies that don’t compete with each other and have very different philosophies together and see what they can come up with. McLaren is a British supercar company that has no current allegiances to any other manufacturer and knows a thing or two about extreme performance. BMW is a German luxury/sports car company that has some of the best, if not the best, technology on the market and knows how to make luxury and smile-inducing fun. Plus, there’s the familiarity of having worked together before.
It sounds obvious for me to pick McLaren, but it’s just such a perfect match in my eyes. Aston Martin is a company that comes to mind, but its recent dealings with Mercedes-AMG kind of ruins that. Jaguar might be good too, but it already makes cars that are very similar to BMW, so there’s not much it brings to the table that BMW doesn’t already. It might be interesting to see what two German car companies can create, like BMW and Audi, but it would probably be similar to something one of the companies already makes. Maybe put BMW and Lamborghini back together, or maybe even Ferrari?
There are probably a few interesting choices that would end up producing an incredible car if teamed with BMW. But if I had to choose one, I’d go with McLaren. They just seem like a match made in performance-car-heaven. What company would you like to see BMW collaborate with?
