New BMW M2 Competition Edges Closer To Production

Today’s BMW M2 is the BMW M3 of 10-15 years ago. Given that car’s success, the M2 has some Bimmer-grille-sized shoes to fill. As we get closer to the car’s launch later this year, things are looking pretty promising. We’ve seen some footage of the car tackling the Nurburgring with ease, and the new look of the 2 Series isn’t as highly controversial as much of BMW’s lineup.

Now, we’ve got some new spy photos that make BMW’s latest go-fast coupe look even more promising. Our spies found the M2 conducting some on-road testing in Europe, sporting some new changes ahead of the car’s debut. Thanks to new photos of both the interior and exterior, we can also see that the new coupe is a blend of new and less-new BMW tech and styling.

As of now, we expect a few things from the newest M2. First, we know the car will likely use a detuned version of the straight-six foundin the BMW M3 and M4 and will develop around 450 hp. We’ve also heard rumors that the car’s rumored manual could be a US-only option. We also know the car will offer an automatic, likely driving the rear wheels exclusively, unlike its M240i sibling.

On this outing, our spies spotted a small vent at the inner lower corner of the headlights. We’re imagining this is either for aero or cooling, but it’s unclear which. Perhaps the vent feeds air down into the wheel wells. There also appear to be some slight changes to the headlights, which will further serve to differentiate the M2 from its more pedestrian siblings. Around back, we can now see that the M2’s side skirts sweep upwards towards the body.

From what our spies report, we believe this to be a Competition model. Like the rest of BMW’s Comp line, this one should be automatic only, which we can see in the interior spy shots. On the outside, different wheels, brakes, and what look to be a titanium exhaust set this one apart from the other M2s we’ve spied.

Inside, the new car will be running BMW’s iDrive 8. We eventually expect that system to trickle down into other 2 Series models, not that we had any issue with the unit currently found in the 2 Series. However, new is always nice. Finally, we look to be getting the more traditional BMW auto shifter in this one, and not the little switches found in other models- at least in this allegedly Competition-spec car. We’ll have to wait for more details to emerge to confirm that.