BMW M1 Hommage to show at Melbourne

BMW has announced that it is going to use its M1 Hommage (or Homage, if you’re not German) as the centre piece of it’s stand at the Melbourne Motor Show in February.

The BMW M1 Hommage was created last year to celebrate 30 years from the M1 road car creation in 1978, and was developed by BMW’s M Division.

The M1 Hommage takes many styling cues from the original M1, such as the air vents on the bonnet, the louvres on the rear window and the round decals at the extremes of the wings, but makes a distinctly 21st century take on the original.

BMW M1 Hommage - a modern take on the original M1

Displaying alongside the M1 Hommage will be the new BMW 7 series and the X6 xDrive50i, which are both powered by BMW’s first ever twin-turbo V8 engine.

It seems on the face of it a strange move by BMW to focus on its most powerful models, and an extreme concept, when car makers worldwide are trying to highlight their most frugal models. But it probably says more about BMW’s long term goals than actually snubbing the current economic concerns.

It has long been known that BMW is desperate to produce a true supercar, and would love to have a high-end marque at its disposal to showcase what it can do. It must look with envy at its Achilles heel, Audi, which has managed to not only snaffle Lamborghini, but has achieved the almost impossible with the R8 and made it a true supercar, accepted by the world as such.

Maybe, as the recession unfolds, BMW will be able to pick up a prestige Marque at a bargain price. If not, maybe they’ll go the Toyota route, and invent a new supercar marque. Or they could of course pick up a dead marque from the past and revitalise it.

Should be interesting.