BMW Will Reportedly Make An M8, And Is Turning The 6-Series Into A 911 Killer
While we adore the rakish old E31 8-series, BMW hasn’t really needed to revive the name. After all, it has the 6-series (below) for its leggy grand tourer requirements, so why bother making a new 8-series? Well, thanks to a planned reinvention of the 6er as a sports car to take on the Porsche 911 - apparently fuelled by competition from the Mercedes-AMG GT - suddenly there’s room for a Mercedes S-Class coupe-rivalling 8-series.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard 8-series comeback rumours, and in late March Munich even went so far as trademarking a bunch of names like 830, 850 and even M8. But according to an insider source cited by Auto Express, the trademarking was more than a case of preserving a load of potentially useful names for a rainy day - BMW is indeed about to shake up its GT offerings.
When the 8-series does arrive, expect a range of turbocharged straight-sixes and V8s powering most models. The M860 meanwhile will almost certainly use the M760Li’s new 6.6-litre V12, but the powerplant choice for the M8 is less clear.
A fettled version of the M5/M6’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 seems the obvious choice, but who knows - perhaps a more powerful edition of the aforementioned 6.6-litre V12 could be on the cards. BMW has steered clear of V12s for almost all of its M cars, but the old 8-series did spawn an M8 concept plus the 850CSi - an M car in all but name - so it could happen…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
This article inspired this text conversation, which inspired me to download this app because it makes me sad that I have exactly zero friends I can talk about cars with. Feels nice seeing all this.
Good luck ///M8.
Nice m8 m8, i r8 8/8.
Wait if it crashes and your friend is driving…
M8 didn’t indicate
What a ugly car
Who ever made that must of been drunk
they ruined bmw… it’s just all stupid these days,…
They should also make an ///M version of the 7 series. Alpina already made the B7.
Hehehhe
Yo m8 my new M8 will domin8 your R8 even if you h8 it :P