Full Article - Fast Company
A skunkworks at BMW builds customized, high-performance screamers. It's also building a better BMW.
Just nine seconds ago my driver and I were admiring one of the onion-domed churches common in Bavaria. But now I'm nailed to my leather seat as the speedometer passes 135 mph, the tach hits 8,200 rpm, and the church is a dancing dot in our rearview mirror. "That felt good, yes?" asks Peter Löcker as he flicks off an m button on the steering wheel.
...
Löcker, a thin, gray-haired BMW executive who has served the company for more than 30 years, closes his eyes momentarily as he listens to the car's V10 engine. "You wouldn't believe it's a 507-horsepower car, would you? Now it's just a normal, everyday car for driving to the office or collecting your mother- in-law, yes?" But before I can agree, the m button, which unleashes 100 of those horses and stiffens the suspension, has been pressed again. As we're catapulted along the autobahn once more, Löcker grins like a teenager who has just been handed his license.
A skunkworks at BMW builds customized, high-performance screamers. It's also building a better BMW.
Just nine seconds ago my driver and I were admiring one of the onion-domed churches common in Bavaria. But now I'm nailed to my leather seat as the speedometer passes 135 mph, the tach hits 8,200 rpm, and the church is a dancing dot in our rearview mirror. "That felt good, yes?" asks Peter Löcker as he flicks off an m button on the steering wheel.
...
Löcker, a thin, gray-haired BMW executive who has served the company for more than 30 years, closes his eyes momentarily as he listens to the car's V10 engine. "You wouldn't believe it's a 507-horsepower car, would you? Now it's just a normal, everyday car for driving to the office or collecting your mother- in-law, yes?" But before I can agree, the m button, which unleashes 100 of those horses and stiffens the suspension, has been pressed again. As we're catapulted along the autobahn once more, Löcker grins like a teenager who has just been handed his license.
