If you've been following the news over the past 24 hours, you'll know that BMW announced yesterday that it would depart from Formula 1 racing at the end of the 2009 season. While that might strike a pang in the hearts of BMW enthusiasts, Dr. Klaus Draeger, BMW management board member, did drop some interesting news hidden deep in his statement on BMW's motorsports activities yesterday - BMW will bring a highly efficient sports car concept to the Frankfurt motor show this September.
"You will see a product of sustainable development at the IAA in Frankfurt in a few weeks in the form of a concept car," Draeger said in the statement. "The BMW EfficientDynamics Vision will demonstrate how efficient a sports car can be. It will also prove that sustainability does not apply to the drivetrain alone, but to design and materials as well."
"Anyone who takes a closer look at this concept car will understand the direction in which we are developing our technology. And it will become evident that we will have to dedicate more human and financial resources to this type of development work."
So the cat's out of the bag - in part, at least. We still don't know any of the vital details regarding what BMW's EfficientDynamics Vision sports car concept will be made from or powered by - let alone what it might look like. Speculation has the concept running on anything from full electric power, to a hybrid drivetrain, to a highly-efficient diesel mill. And you can bet that there will be a host of lightweight materials used in the sports car concept's construction, along with an ultra-aerodynamic profile -- similar to that of the GINA concept (pictured). BMW recently finished construction of an advanced new wind tunnel which is critical to the EfficientDynamics program.
BMW will also be bringing its complete fleet of EfficientDynamics vehicles to Frankfurt, along with production versions of its its ActiveHybrid 7 and ActiveHybrid X6, concepts of which were shown previously at Frankfurt.. Other BMW entries include the 5 Series Gran Turismo and the X1 compact utility vehicle.
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