BMW pulled a surprise concept out of the hat at this year's Concorso dâ'Eleganza Villa dâ'Este event. The M1 Homage continues the company's recent habit of eulogising classic models with sculptural new concepts (witness 2006's Mille Miglia concept).
This time the design team decided to reinvent the M1, the iconic 1970s-era supercar that marked a crisply drawn diversion from the company's core business of cars and bikes. Styled by Giorgio Giugiaro, the M1 is still an icon, a wedge-shaped mid-engined sports car quite unlike anything the Bavarians had ever done before. The original car was inspired by Paul Bracq's wild BMW Turbo concept, designed to celebrate the 1972 Olympics in BMW's home town of Munich.
The production M1 followed seven years later, kick-starting today's 'M-power' motorsport division and creating a cult classic in the process. The low-slung spirit is something BMW hopes to evoke with the M1 Homage, a fluid fusion of Bracq and Giugiaro's original folds with the complex surfacing and intersecting forms of the company's ever evolving contemporary design language.
The details are lavish, with flutes, frills and slashes set into the curvaceous bodywork (although the proportions are appropriated almost line for line from Bracq's first generation car). Overall, the spirit of 1970s excess hangs over the project, but in a good way. While production hasn't even been hinted at, we suspect the company are testing the water for a possible return to a market segment now dominated by Audi's all-conquering R8.
INFORMATION
BMW M1 Homage, concept only
Website
http://www.bmw.com
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