Photo: Catalin Garmacea
The 2015 Detroit Auto Show came with few premieres for BMW. Basically, only the facelifted 6 Series and M6 models were on the set to show off with as far as never-before seen cars go. However, a couple of interesting bits of info were released by officials.
One of the most talkative faces at the BMW floor was Franciscus van Meel, the recently hired M division boss that came in from Audi’s quattro division. As we said when he made his move, it was all in the effort of bringing all-wheel drive to M cars in the future.
And he basically confirmed the rumors that the upcoming M5 will adopt all-wheel drive. Considering the power output of the future model combined with bigger levels of torque, a rear-wheel drive setup would just be overwhelmed.
That’s all the all-wheel drive will be used for, increased traction, as the way it will be implemented will be extremely rear-biased to avoid understeer as much as possible.
“If we continue the power increases in the future – especially regarding torque and also horsepower – then probably the next generation M5 and M6 will have so much torque and power that we need to think about those solutions,” said van Meel for Auto Express.
Of course, at the moment, we have the X5 M and X6 M models that have xDrive and seem to handle themselves quite nice actually but they are SUVs and not nearly as emblematic as the M5. Furthermore, they were done in all-wheel drive guise from the get go.
Editor’s note: I sincerely hope that all-wheel drive will be available on the next M5 as an optional feature and that it won’t become the norm.
And he basically confirmed the rumors that the upcoming M5 will adopt all-wheel drive. Considering the power output of the future model combined with bigger levels of torque, a rear-wheel drive setup would just be overwhelmed.
That’s all the all-wheel drive will be used for, increased traction, as the way it will be implemented will be extremely rear-biased to avoid understeer as much as possible.
“If we continue the power increases in the future – especially regarding torque and also horsepower – then probably the next generation M5 and M6 will have so much torque and power that we need to think about those solutions,” said van Meel for Auto Express.
Of course, at the moment, we have the X5 M and X6 M models that have xDrive and seem to handle themselves quite nice actually but they are SUVs and not nearly as emblematic as the M5. Furthermore, they were done in all-wheel drive guise from the get go.
Editor’s note: I sincerely hope that all-wheel drive will be available on the next M5 as an optional feature and that it won’t become the norm.
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