The automotive industry spent the last decade prioritizing heavy, high-margin SUVs over low-volume sports cars. But as flagship utility vehicles begin to stall on the sales charts in 2026, the people in charge of building performance cars are looking backward to their heritage.
BMW M CEO Frank van Meel told reporters at Le Mans that he is in love with the original M1 and wants to build a new one. The head of BMW M Design, Oliver Heilmer, immediately agreed, naming the mid-engine sports car as his ultimate dream project if he were unconstrained by budget limits.
Both executives admitted this is an unfunded dream. The parent company has not approved a budget or given the green light for production. Speaking at Le Mans, van Meel clarified that no official plans are currently moving forward to manufacture the car.
The original mid-engine BMW M1 was produced from 1978 to 1981 and remains the manufacturer’s only true supercar. The company came very close to reviving the nameplate twice recently. A 2019 Vision M Next Concept featuring a 600-horsepower plug-in hybrid engine was reportedly 95 percent finished before executives scrapped it in 2020. A second project for a 1,200-horsepower electric supercar costing over $100,000 was also shelved after analysts determined market demand for electric hypercars was too weak.
Instead of building the M1 successor for its planned 2022 launch, BMW shifted resources to create the XM crossover SUV. Internal projections showed that a heavy luxury SUV would sell better than a two-door sports car. That corporate bet failed. The XM crossover underperformed, forcing the company to slash prices on the high-end Black Label edition and discontinue the base model entirely for 2026.
Looking Ahead
Without a corporate sibling to share parts with, BMW faces a difficult financial math problem in the supercar segment. Competitor Audi launched the successful R8 and the new Nuvolari by sharing technical development costs and underpinnings with Lamborghini. Mercedes-Benz also maintains a constant presence in this flagship space with the AMG GT line.
Because BMW lacks this specific corporate synergy, a new M1 would require expensive, solitary in-house development. If BMW wants to turn van Meel’s dream into a real vehicle, they will have to fund the entire engineering project alone while recovering from the XM’s poor sales performance.