BMW celebrates its 100th birthday next year and for months the rumormill churned out that the Bavarians might be preparing a supercar with a high-displacement engine under the hood. But apparently those are just rumors and the company has no plans for a conventional supercar.
“We’re not going to build a super sports car powered by a heavy V8 or V10 engine,” affirmed Klaus Fröhlich, BMW’s chief of development, in an interview with German magazine Auto, Motor, Und Sport.
Fröhlich’s comments crushed reports of a retro-inspired mid-engined coupe as a follow up to the legendary M1 and the-never-launched M8.
But not all hope is lost. While BMW is not preparing the supercar-type of car we all dream of, the companies might be unveiling a new BMW i8 model – likely i8S – positioned above the current hybrid sportscar. Fröhlich hinted a high-performance flagship coupe powered by an all-electric drivetrain might arrive in the future, just not in time for the centennial celebration.
The BMW chief of R&D says the battery technology hasn’t reached a point where an electric supercar is feasible, but that might change in the near future. BMW is already working on the next-generation battery pack which will debut in a refreshed i3 in 2016.
