The 2016 BMW M2 is just over the horizon, and I couldn’t be more excited. Not only will it reportedly be powered by a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged inline-six that puts down between 380 and 400 horses, but it will be as close to the 2002tii as we’ve come in recent years. It will be small, have two doors, and it’ll be much more powerful than it should be. Oh, and it’ll be rear-wheel drive, just to sweeten the pot a little. And now a new report from the folks at the 2addicts forums shows that the M2->ke3901 may be even more awesome, as it appears as it will borrow some styling cues from the 2014 BMW Vision Gran Turismo Concept.
The folks over at the forum managed to do some Sherlock Holmes-style investigating on the most recent spy shots of the M2, and saw some striking similarities between the M2 and the Vision GT Concept. I must say, some of their sleuthing was downright impressive, but some of it is a tad assumptive, as the camo is so heavy in some sections your eyes can play tricks on you – hence that swirly camo… Some of the cues they saw include the air vents on the outer edges of the rear bumper, the rear diffuser, and the air inlets just in front of the rear wheels.
Click past the jump to read more about the M2 resembling the Vision GT Concept.
Why it matters
The Vision Grand Turismo project was obviously initially a place where automakers could go and let their creative guys loose. But now it is starting to seem as if it could be a place for designers to put their more extreme concepts to see just how well the pubic takes them. In the case of the Bimmer concept, the fans took a huge liking to it, and BMW seems to have noticed.
Looking at the images that 2addicts has on its site, I can see the case for the air intakes directly in front of the rear wheels, and I can also make a case for the diffuser. The air outlets in the rear bumper, on the other hand, aren't quite as obvious. I see that there is what looks to be a break in the camo’s pattern and a slight recess, but that doesn’t mean that Bimmer will put air vents there. In fact, I think those big vents may be a tad too racy for the quick little BMW.
Only time will tell whether or not these reports are true, but I think it’s a good excuse to talk about the M2.