BMW Built an All-Electric M2 Prototype

BMW’s M division is going electric. Last week the company teased an all-electric version of its iconic M3, set to hit showrooms in 2027. Now, the company is showing off another all-electric M car: A prototype based on the first-generation M2 coupe. 

The car, internally called The Beast, was conceived by a small group of engineers in 2018 on a “mission to explore what’s possible,” according to Michael Sailer, one of the team’s dynamics engineers.

The car looks fairly stock on the outside, save for a couple of tow hooks, a ducktail trunk spoiler, and a set of gold-painted brake calipers—likely carbon-ceramics. The cabin has been stripped to accommodate a roll cage, a racing seat, and a suite of testing equipment.

BMW did not go into detail on the M2 prototype’s powertrain, but it’s clear the factory turbocharged straight-six has been replaced by some kind of electric power. Seeing as how every electric M car will have four motors, this M2 may be rocking a quad-motor setup itself. But that’s just speculation.

Engineers describe the battery-powered M2 prototype as hard to control. M boss Frank Van Meel compares it to the F10-generation M5, which sent power to the rear wheels only, making it a relative handful considering its twin-turbo V-8 power. It forced the team to turn to AWD for the next-generation car.

“I can still remember January 2015, Cobo Hall, Detroit Motor Show, where I said in an interview, the next M5 generation will need four-wheel drive,” he said. “And everyone was going ‘this is the end of the universe,’ because if you put four-wheel drive on an M car it will only go straight forward, there will be no dynamics left.”

Van Meel said he had to “live with this shit-storm” for three years until the first all-wheel drive M5 came out, then everyone drove it and loved it. He likens the transition to electric power to the transition from rear-wheel drive to all-wheel drive. 

“Trust me, that what we’re working on now for the future will be at least as great as what we did [with the first AWD M5],” he said. “Now we will make that beast controllable, so that the next step in high performance is on the horizon.”