In an ideal world, BMW would’ve followed up on the M1 with the M12. However, the “E26” sadly never received a direct successor as this spectacular supercar died as a concept. Some 33 years after its world premiere, the Nazca M12 still looks futuristic. The low-slung machine penned by Giorgetto Giugiaro’s son recently attended the Concours Croatia show where this video was shot.
Fabrizio Giugiaro himself drove the elusive machine powered by the 5.0-liter V12 engine BMW was installing those days in the 850i. It’s an all-alloy M70B50 from the 7 Series “E32” and 8 Series “E31” that made a healthy 300 horsepower and 332 pound-feet (450 Newton-meters) of torque in a car that weighed only 1,098 kilograms (2,420 pounds). Since the M12 had BMW’s backing, the famous roundel can be prominently found inside and out. After all, even the car’s name clearly indicates the Bavarian connection, and so does the kidney grille.
Seeing the Nazca M12 up close must be a delight given its aggressive stance. Featuring a clean design, the supercar’s carbon fiber body was only 1.1 meters (43.3 inches) tall but 1.99 meters (78.3 inches) wide. Although the doors opened conventionally, the windows went up electrically in gullwing style. To achieve that remarkably low curb weight, Italdesign opted for a carbon tub. The fully functional interior combined BMW switchgear with bespoke parts.
At just 4.37 meters (172 inches), the M12 was about as long as the latest-generation 1 Series (“F70”). It routed the twelve-cylinder power to the rear axle via a Getrag five-speed manual gearbox. The longitudinally mounted engine helped the jaw-dropping performance machine hit 62 mph in four and a half seconds. Flat out, it could do 180 mph (290 km/h).
Fabrizio Giugiaro, who was only 26 years old when he designed the car, took inspiration from F1 and Group C race cars. The sleek shape helped the M12 achieve a low drag coefficient of only 0.26. But rumor has it BMW wasn’t entirely happy with the concept’s design and asked for updates. Changes were made for the subsequent 1992 C2 and 1993 C2 Spider. However, those didn’t make it to production either. In 2024, BMW still doesn’t have an M1 successor but we’re not losing hope yet.
Source: Car Therapy / YouTube, Concours Croatia / Instagram
