[SYT_Shadow]

Originally Posted by adc

Frequent change at the top is indicative of chronic or unsolved problems.

Actual personalities of those two involved aside, I find it a bit disheartening that the flagship BMW division cannot find a sufficiently strong and passionate leader, with a sufficiently strong vision that can endure the test of time, and who doesn’t want to move over to anything else.

You know, like Andreas Preuninger over at Porsche GT.

Someone who lives and breathes Motorsport and wants to make M cars be head and shoulders above the competition (as much as that is possible in an era of omnispread technology). But at least someone who doesn’t want to rise to the top because the M division is already the top of his list.

They did with the previous guy right? And then they put the 8sp ZF into the M5 and he left. Well that plus the 60 year old limit on German executives

The interview that guy did recently was very enlightening.

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by Tracus

Now please replace the Head of Design...

Yeah, that Skoda guy please...

He's got 5-6 years left. Then he will get snagged by another company.

Adrian van Hoydonk is awesome as the head of design for BMW Group.

[NYAWE60]

Originally Posted by Law

When Van Meel was poached from quattro GmbH to M GmbH four years ago, we already had an idea as to why BMW would want the ex-head of quattro to be the head of M.

In comes the F90 M5, with M xDrive and then the speculations about Van Meel's role in the AWD-ification are confirmed.
At the same time, right before our eyes, the M Performance Automobile line becomes nearly all xDrive-based, (i.e., M550i, M760Li, X3 M40i, X4 M40i, X1 M35i & upcoming M340i), with no RWD option except for the M240i.

BMW took the initiative to poach the head of a division (quattro) world renowned for its AWD systems and got what they wanted.

For me personally, I never saw Van Meel as a traditional/true BMW M type of guy, and to his credit he never really pretended to be.
It seemed like he knew exactly why he was chosen for the role and it was exactly what BMW execs wanted.

A necessary evil, perhaps.

But it'll be interesting to see where things go from here.

This is so well written I literally got up and clapped at my monitor.

[flyaway]

Thanks God, it was really time the passionate and qualified men working at the M division are re-given the chance to make what they know best under a competent management.
Let the other guy build Audis elsewhere in the BMW group if really must. But maybe and if someone else wants him, just saying…

[Darth One]

it was good that some of you pointed out that he drives a clown shoe. i take that as a good sign as well - that he drives a car that came from what i consider as the heyday of the M division. if he could just turn back the clock and recapture the spirit from those days...i think BMW is back to being the Ultimate Driving Machine in a flasch.

[Teutonic]

Originally Posted by eDrive

He's got 5-6 years left. Then he will get snagged by another company.

Adrian van Hoydonk is awesome as the head of design for BMW Group.

I was talking about the Head of Design not the Group Design Director.

https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/10/08/b...n-jozef-kaban/

[raysspl]

Good on them both for sure

[///M TOWN]

Originally Posted by Tracus

I was talking about the Head of Design not the Group Design Director.

https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/10/08/b...n-jozef-kaban/

Yeah losing Karim was a huge loss.

[F85MTuNED]

I'm very excited to see what's next for BMW ///M division.

[M3 Adjuster]

Originally Posted by DCG

Whatever it takes for BMW to finally get "M xDrive" in the M3 / M4 I'm all for it!

And while you're at it just make the Competition Package standard.

You seem to be missing the mark and perhaps aren't following the BMW mission recently. :

Buy an upcoming X3M or an Audi sedan if you want AWD.

M3 and M4 don't need all wheel drive. They are already heavy enough. They need a better suspension that puts the power down properly- Not AWD as a Band-Aid.

If anything it already is a harbinger that you likely won't get further X drive models with Van Meel moving on.

Although truthfully. They are so darn big now the F80 and the G80 really should have a 5er badge.

As far as the competition package - it has already been made standard.. as a competition. MODEL. Two already are being made in the M2 competition and the M5 competition.

In the future each M will have the following variants.

Base car
Competition model
CS " track oriented but streetable "
CSL ( If offered ) - track model

This four car lineup is similar to Porsche with its base , GT, GTS, and GT-4 /GT3 designations.

[kyrix1st]

Originally Posted by adc

Frequent change at the top is indicative of chronic or unsolved problems.

Actual personalities of those two involved aside, I find it a bit disheartening that the flagship BMW division cannot find a sufficiently strong and passionate leader, with a sufficiently strong vision that can endure the test of time, and who doesn’t want to move over to anything else.

You know, like Andreas Preuninger over at Porsche GT.

Someone who lives and breathes Motorsport and wants to make M cars be head and shoulders above the competition (as much as that is possible in an era of omnispread technology). But at least someone who doesn’t want to rise to the top because the M division is already the top of his list.

BMW had a strong, passionate leader called Albert Biermann who built M cars since E30 M3 and they lost it.

https://www.caranddriver.com/feature...lbert-biermann

"They just called me on a Friday evening. I said, “No, I’m not interested.” I started to think about Hyundai and what it was doing with Kia, and also about how far South Korea had come in a short time. But the key thing was that M was heading somewhere I didn’t want to go. The guys who used to do crazy projects were gone. So I was thinking maybe Hyundai isn’t a bad idea at the end of my career. Then a few things happened, like the double-clutch transmission was canceled for the M5, and I thought, “This is not my game anymore,” and I left. My plan had been to retire after this M5 launched, but suddenly I had a new adventure."