In an interview with BMW Blog in the Japanese capital, during the Tokyo Mobility Show, Frank van Meel confirmed that the Competition badge is on borrowed time in the offerings of Munich’s sports sub-brand – especially since it has been progressively less used in its models. But fans of BMW M can rest assured that there is (good) reason for this decision.
According to the CEO of BMW, over 80% of BMW M customers already opted for the Competition variants of their models, so these will now be the ones that guarantee access to each offering: “We can say that every M model today is a Competition,” he stated. In other words, the original strategy, adopted following the introduction by some competing brands, of proposing a base version and a slightly more extreme variant, with more power, better performance, a sportier suspension, and minor aesthetic differences, has lost its meaning.
In fact, a closer look reveals that this is already happening. Taking the current M2 as an example, with its 480 hp, it is more powerful than the previous M2 Competition, so all future creations from BMW M will follow a similar path and will surpass, in every sense, the Competition derivatives of their predecessors. Thus, the ranges will now be composed of three options: the base version, and the CL and CSL variants, focused on weight reduction and optimization of dynamic performance, especially on the track.
