{"id":3760,"date":"2026-02-27T13:44:20","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/supercarsblondie.com\/?p=176"},"modified":"2026-02-27T13:44:20","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T13:44:20","slug":"bmw-has-only-ever-made-one-supercar-this-is-what-happened-to-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/?p=3760","title":{"rendered":"BMW has only ever made one supercar, this is what happened to it"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The only BMW supercar<\/a> ever made, known as the BMW M1, came from a Lamborghini partnership that didn\u2019t last and a racing team looking to make its mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The M1 launched in 1978 with a mid-engine layout, fiberglass body, and a 3.5-liter inline-six behind the seats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Production ended in 1981 after just 453 units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The process involved supplier changes, regulatory issues, and a racing series BMW created on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shaky start for the BMW supercar venture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BMW launched its M Division in 1972 with the goal of building competitive race cars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After modifying production models like the 3.0 CSL<\/a>, the team wanted to create a dedicated platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea was to build a Group 5 racer and produce enough road-going versions to meet homologation rules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To move quickly, BMW entered a Lamborghini partnership that gave the Italian firm responsibility for engineering and early builds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
Girardo & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the time, Lamborghini was under new ownership and struggling financially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agreement covered chassis development, prototype construction, and limited production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Italdesign handled the body, drawing from BMW\u2019s earlier Turbo concept.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Lamborghini failed to meet delivery timelines, BMW cancelled the deal and restructured the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chassis work was transferred to Marchesi, a supplier in Modena.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
Girardo & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Italdesign continued with body and interior production, while final assembly moved to German firm Baur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BMW needed 400 cars to meet racing requirements. Between 1978 and 1981, it built 453.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The BMW M1 used a 3.5-liter inline-six called the M88.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It produced 273 horsepower and paired with a five-speed manual gearbox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
Girardo & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The car was rear-wheel drive and weighed under 3,000 pounds. Top speed was 164 miles per hour, with a 0 to 60 time of 5.6 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although designed for Group 5, the BMW supercar never raced in that class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rule changes came before the car was ready. Instead, BMW created the Procar Championship, which ran as a support series for Formula 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The identical M1s were driven by F1 names including Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. A few examples also appeared in endurance racing, including Le Mans and IMSA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why BMW never followed it up<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the M1, BMW has explored building another BMW supercar but none have made it to production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nazca M12 and C2 were concepts revealed in the early 1990s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both were designed by Italdesign and powered by BMW V12s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alpina was approached about taking over production of the Nazca or reviving the M1, but costs were too high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, BMW showed the Vision M Next. It was based on the i8\u2019s carbon-fiber structure and added a more powerful plug-in hybrid setup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/a>
Girardo & Co.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Internally called the i16, the project remained under evaluation until it was cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2024, BMW designer Domagoj Dukec confirmed the concept came close to approval but was shelved due to budget concerns and market uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of 2025, the BMW M1 remains the brand\u2019s only BMW supercar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was the first standalone project from the M Division and the product of a Lamborghini partnership that quickly fell apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the delays and detours, it left a lasting impression that BMW has yet to match with a successor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The only BMW supercar ever made, known as the BMW M1, came from a Lamborghini partnership that didn\u2019t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,7,12,34,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bmw","category-cars","category-latest","category-manufacturers","category-trending"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nerdwallett.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}