The news coming from the world’s oldest car magazine (yes, that’s the same one that had the CarScoop on the Alfa Romeo 4C), is that BMW M’s division is committed to rear wheel drive.
BMW M boss Friedrich Nitschke spoke to the publication about the matter during last month’s Detroit Auto Show: “Our philosophy in regards to steering feel and precision is that rear-wheel drive is the best solution,” he said. “xDrive brings an 80-90kg weight penalty and the M differential is the industry’s best rear-drive set-up.”
Well, we guess neither Nitschke nor Autocar have ever heard about the…BMW X5 M and X6 M, or the M135i xDrive, M550d xDrive and the X6 50d xDrive (granted; the Bavarian company describes the last three as “Powered by M” and “M Performance” models, but they still carry the “M” nameplate anyway).
During the interview, Nitschke added that the M brand will continue to offer manual gearboxes as long as there’s demand, and that there are no “imminent plans” to offer an M3 version of the new 3-Series Gran Turismo.
Story References: Autocar via Worldcarfans
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