BMW M Performance Automobiles range to be launched at Geneva – come forth the M diesels?

BMW M GmbH is unveiling a new product range that will bear their M brand. Slotted in between regular BMWs that are mildly spiced up with the M Sports kit and full fledged M cars like the M3 and M5, the new product range will be known as BMW M Performance Automobiles.

“We are targeting our efforts at customers looking for more emotionality and more performance, but who don’t want to forgo the everyday usability of their cars. The new product line-up will be a range that includes a wide variety of model series, as well as both petrol and diesel-engined variants,” said Dr Friedrich Nitschke, President of BMW M GmbH.

BMW M even hinted at the new naming scheme – it referenced the old 1980 BMW M535i, which accompanied the full fledged BMW M5 in the E28 model range. The M535i used a M30B35 that made 211 horsepower, while the M5′s S38B35 made 260 horses. Back in March 2010, we heard that BMW filed a series of new trademarks that included the term M50d – this would likely be used on a tuned up diesel (rumoured tri-turbo) X5/X6 that was part of this new M Performance Automobiles range.

The new range will be presented to the public at the Geneva International Motor Show 2012 this year, from the 8th of March to the 18th of March – that and the rest of the Geneva unveils should keep us very busy in the first quarter of the year of the Dragon!

“M Purists” will undoubtedly make a fuss about this, but BMW M doesn’t seem to care much and continues to evolve with the times – they’ve gone ahead and added all wheel drive, SUVs, torque converter automatic transmissions, and turbochargers. All of this has resulted in products that has no doubt made their CFO very happy with the bank balances. They might as well add oil burners to the list as well, after all someone’s gotta compete with Audi’s V10 and V12 TDIs right?

Watch the first video in this story for an interview with the BMW M head honcho where he talks about the new model range, and check out the second video which features what we’re assuming is a white BMW X5 M50d – you can hear a little of how it sounds like in the video.

© 2012 Paul Tan's Automotive News. All Rights Reserved.

This story originally appeared on Paul Tan's Automotive News on Sun, 15 Jan 12 16:24:03 +0000.

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