BMW Vision M NEXT Is the Hybrid Sports Car We’ve Been Dreaming Of

More to the point, that translates into the driver’s ability to select how the car goes about its business. At a push of a button, one could choose between electric all-wheel drive or rear-wheel drive, all-electric propulsion or the good-old squeeze-bang-blow.

BMW calls the Vision M NEXT a progressive hybrid sports car inspired by the 1972 BMW Turbo and the i8. It uses a powertrain combination that comprises a turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine working in conjunction with an electric system.

The combined output of the two is 600 hp, enough for naught to 62 acceleration times of three seconds and a top speed of 300 km/h (186 mph). Extra power can be squeezed by pushing the BOOST+ button.

The electric drivetrain of the car should allow for a zero-emissions range of 100 km (62 miles).

Visually, the concept takes some of its design cues from the only true sports car made to date by BMW, the M1. That’s especially visible in the design of the rear window, with its three-piece louvers made from glass.

On the inside, there's not much to talk about.

The car uses face recognition and automatically unlocks the gullwing doors when the driver approaches, revealing a minimalist interior occupied only by seats dressed in a foam material with shape memory and the steering wheel complete with holographic displays.

So far, the Vision M NEXT is just a proof of concept and it does not preview a future production model. It does preview though BMW’s evolution of design and driving dynamics, meaning some of the things we see here might make their way into production cars in the near future.

Full details on the concept car can be found in the document attached below.