When BMW revealed the 2019 BMW Vision M Next Concept, it served a couple of purposes. The official purpose was that it represented BMW’s take on how “driving pleasure might look in the future,” but it was also said to preview the future of BMW’s M-badged models and the company's new hybrid powertrain. However, this debut happened six months after it was discovered that BMW was planning a 700-horsepower hybrid supercar to take on Ferrari and Lamborghini, among others. When purists and enthusiasts put 2+2 together, it made sense that the M Next Concept could move into production and that the long-awaited supercar would likely be a reworked i8 M Shortly after that news, it was reported that the i8 M was canceled, but it was never confirmed – at least not until now, anyway.

BMW Apparently Can’t Afford to Build a Supercar, So the Vision M Next Is Dead

grey 2019 BMW Vision M Next Concept
BMW

Of course, nobody wanted to believe it, despite the fact that it originated from BMW Blog which was quote its own sources. The internet has since been silent and has largely forgotten about the upcoming BMW Supercar, but now we can say that there’s a good chance that the project has been scrapped altogether.

This most recent report comes via Car Magazine, which quotes a member of BMW M’s R&D team. In short, BMW has dropped the ball on electrification, so the company must pour all of its resources into developing EVs – a decision that has, essentially, cannibalized what would have been the BMW supercar the world has been craving for nearly four decades (the M1 went out of production in 1981).

Does this move by BMW make sense? If you take into consideration the belief that the production version of the Vision M Next supercar was to be based on the i8 and maybe even called the i8M, it kind of does. Despite the cries for a proper BMW supercar, the i8 itself didn’t exactly break any sales records. It sure did garner a lot of attention from the media, but the number of people that actually bought one fell far short of BMW’s expectations. Then, you also have to consider BMW being forced to take on Porsche, Audi, Tesla, Mercedes, and other mainstream automakers (luxury or not) in the middle of an EV war.

Without a strong lineup of EVs, should they really take off as half the world predicts, BMW could find itself without a true means to compete for the first time in a very long time. BMW can’t afford to make the same mistake that it did with the i8, and a supercar at this point in time would be full of risk. So, while we may see a BMW supercar again someday, for now, you’ll just have to settle with the BMW M8 or maybe the 1000-horsepower 2024 BMW M5 EV, as that’s the closest you’re going to get any time soon.

2019 BMW Vision M Next specifications

Motor

Four-cylinder + electric motors

Horsepower

591 HP

0 to 100 km/h

3 seconds

Top Speed

300 km/h (186 mph)

Electric range

100 km (62 miles)