A flagship BMW M8 will headline the upcoming BMW 8
Series range, the company has confirmed, revealing a camouflaged example today
– just hours after revealing the new Concept 8 Series show car.
Described by the company as the “icing on the cake” of
the new 8 Series line-up, the the new BMW M8 also marks BMW Motorsport’s return
to Le Mans, with a race-spec M8 GTE currently under development, and scheduled
to make its racing debut at the Daytona 24 Hours in January 2018. The company
has confirmed a camouflaged prototype of the M8 will be presented as part of
the support programme for this year’s Nurburgring 24 Hour race.
Despite the camouflage concealing most of the car’s
details, BMW says the new flagship luxury sports coupe will wear classic design
features of its M Division, including larger air intakes, modified brakes and a
sports exhaust system with quad-tailpipe outlets.
BMW’s drip-feed of the M8 follows the official
reveal of the Concept 8 Series earlier this week at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa
d’Este, with the production version due sometime in 2018. The 8 Series and M8
will likely target flagship coupes like the Mercedes-Benz S-Class coupe, along
with high-end luxury sports cars like the Aston Martin DB11 and Bentley
Continental.
It’s unknown what will power the 8 Series and M8 as
yet, though a range of six-, eight- and potentially 12-cylinder turbocharged
engines are likely. Of course, the new BMW M5‘s twin-turbo V8 is surely a shoo-in for providing motivation in the
M8.
With the 8 Series coming sometime next year, expect
the M8 to launch globally either late-2018 or early-2019. For now, we’ll have
to wait for January to see the M8 GTE race car.
