BMW’s next generation of M cars will get quad-motor electric drivetrains

Speechless. That’s how BMW M boss Frank van Meel described the reaction of BMW board members after a hotride in a quad-motor electric M car prototype. Nothing. Nada.

Oh, right, you’re still on the ‘quad-motor electric M car’ thing. In a video released this week (below), BMW M pretty much confirmed that its next generation of fully electric M cars will get four electric motors and… yeah, that’s a lot of motors.

“It’s not about transforming,” van Meel said, “it’s about embracing new technology, and to find out how to push the limits of what is technically possible.”

BMW development boss Dirk Hacker noted how the company first looks at “where the previous generation [of M car] finished”, to then figure out what the future looks like. And it looks like an i4 going really very sideways.

It’s a development we first saw back in 2022, when BMW M said four motors allowed a more precise and faster distribution of torque over ‘conventional’ drive systems.

“We will see the technical concepts that we are developing here now,” said BMW M engineer Carsten Wolf, “four electric motors in all BMW M high performance vehicles at some point in the future. In other words, what we are developing here is basically the powertrain and driving dynamics modular system that is crucial for the future of M GmbH.”

And what did BMW’s board members think after sampling the future of M GmbH? “We put all of the board members in our car and said, ‘ok feel it, drive it’,” said van Meel, “and we’ll talk afterwards.

“And after all of them drove the car, actually, they got out of the car and they just said nothing. And then of course, if they say nothing, you think, is this good or bad?”

What do you reckon?