So the next Bugatti Veyron is to be a Hybrid. M5 Implications...

[Hockey Guy]

Just read an article on the Automobile Magazine website that the next Bugatti Veyron is likely to be a hybrid with up to 1,500 HP. Same base engine as today (if that engine can ever be called base at 1,200 HP), but with hybrid on top to get to 1,500. Why do we care? Other than the fact that it is an amazing proposition (1,500 HP), I keep coming back to the notion of whether the G-series M5 (2019) can afford NOT to have a hybrid power train....

While the M3 is BMW's prototypical track car (until the M2?), in many respects the M5 is the halo car (i8 owners might want to argue this until there is another M1 one day?). Halo cars have to be at the forefront and I am convinced that this is what M Div will aim for. More evidence? I also read that the new Acura NSX (2015/2016) is going to be hybrid. Mercedes is learning a tonne in F1 by winning with a dominant hybrid power train. Yes, BMW appears to be the leader in the move to lightweight composites (especially from a volume perspective), but I don't think it will be enough for M Div to simply add 50-75 HP to the current engine, lose a little weight, add AWD optionality and make a few other tweaks. The next M5 has to last many years and meanwhile the great benchmark cars around it are moving in this direction (hybrid). Food for thought and as always I would love to hear your updated thoughts...

[RPiM5]

I believe hybrid assist drivetrains may have significant relevance for M cars in the future. A car like the M5 certainly has the space to incorporate a few battery packs for electric motors. There may already be evidence of BMW moving in this direction in the near future as well. In a thread in the other forum where the new B48 and B58 engines are talked about, there is rumour that BMW is planning to make all future 340i and 440i essentially hybrid cars by incorporating the electric motor from the i3 in combination with the 340hp B58 engine. Although from the sounds of it, it sounds like they will only be adding the i3 electric motor to increase efficiency and not increase performance, meaning by having the electric motor turn the future 3 and 4-series into a true hybrid car and not a hybrid assist performance car.

The i8 already sports a hybrid assist powertrain for both efficiency and performance, so I think the incorporation of that setup in a future M car is not out of the realm of possibility. It all really depends on where CFRP technology and battery technology is in a few yeas if M were decided to throw some batteries and add lots of carbon fiber to the chassis of the next M5/M6. There's a lot of other factors too, but I think those are the two biggest. But my argument is that if Cadillac can make the CTS V-Sport a car under 4,000lbs without the use of any Carbon Fiber and is as big as the current 5-series, then BMW should be able to make a hybrid assist M5 with battery packs and extensive use of carbon fiber and aluminum.