BMW M2 coupe keeps rear wheel drive alive

UPDATED - The next generation of M2 sports coupe will continue on as a rear-wheel coupe, according to BMW.

Reports from the UK this week further confirm that the 2 Series coupe will, as WhichCar reported earlier this year, will send potentially more than 230kW to the rear wheels.

At the launch of the third-generation 1 Series earlier this year, the man in charge of the vehicle’s powertrains, Christian Bock, confirmed that BMW will actually build two separate streams of 2 Series models when the car is renewed “in the near future.”

BMW 1 Series

The 2 Series Grand Tourer five-door hatch will move to BMW’s UKL2 front-wheel-drive platform similar to that of the 1 Series, while the 2 Series convertible and coupe will stay with a longitudinal engine/rear-drive set-up based on the same KLAR platform as the recently renewed 3 Series.

The top-spec M2 coupe, meanwhile, will be offered in both rear- and all-wheel-drive formats, with the xDrive system to be moved across to the hot 2 Series from the 3 Series.

“[The M2] is not forever,” said Bock. “At the moment, we should cover our customers who are expecting something like an M2 in the future. At the moment at least, it will remain in an online configuration.”

Bock is also positive about the future of petrol-powered performance as the company moves towards an electrified future.

2

“From me, a big yes,” he grinned. “If there is some sort of limit placed on us, or there is discussion about forbidding the engines, then it is a clear no."

BMW 1 Series officially revealed. Vale RWD and six-cylinder engines

“It is my hope that mankind is open enough to look in all directions, and that there is a future [in combustion engine cars] even in a small segment.

“We always say at BMW that the last drop of fuel burned on this earth should go into a BMW V12!”