The M is for "Money"

BMW has always had a hard-earned reputation for engineering vehicles for the discerning, performance oriented driver. Within that demographic lies a smaller, and far more puristic group of enthusiasts that are willing to pay a premium for BMW's Motorsport Division vehicles, or "M Cars."

Since it's 1972 inception, BMW M GmbH (formerly BMW Motorsport), has rarely strayed from it's original philosophy, making it one of the most successful and elite specialty automotive manufacturers on the planet. While many car makers have a specialty line of their every day cars that have been upgraded is one way or another and badged as performance models, M has always stood for something different. It's been said that "M" is the most feared and respected letter in the automotive alphabet, and for good reason too. BMW's M cars are are not just tuned versions of normal passenger vehicle like many of their direct competitors produce, namely Mercedes Benz's AMG. M cars are normal BMW passenger cars, completely re-engineered from the ground up with performance as the first priority, and with every aspect of the car crafted in total harmony. M-badged BMW's traditionally are just as comfortable commuting to work through a city as they are going wide open around a circuit track next to purpose-built race cars.

M cars have traditionally been built on BMW platforms that will perform well on a track, the 3 series being by far the most common. M5's, M6's, and a few specialty low-production roadsters built on the Z3 and Z4 platforms have also been graced with the tri-color M badge.

This honest dedication to motorsport is what sets M cars apart from the competition. While Mercedes Benz has placed their performance label, AMG, on just about any vehicle that they think will sell for more money if it has more horsepower, BMW reserves the M marque for true performers.

It's not uncommon to hear an M car enthusiast down-talk AMG for placing it's AMG badge on their SUV's. The profit margin on these vehicles is undoubtedly absurd, with most of them selling at or over the $100,000 mark, but making the compromise of badging these useless vehicles as AMG's seriously dilutes the AMG badge on a legitimate performance car like the SL55 AMG. BMW M drivers have always had the peace of mind that any car that shares that letter has earned it... Until now.

Earlier this week BMW officially unveiled the 2010 X6 M, and plans to release an additional M-badged SUV, the X5 M. The X6 M strays away from BMW's original Motorsport philosophy in every possible way; while M cars have traditionally been just that- cars, the X6 M is an SUV, it is 4-wheel drive instead of rear wheel drive like every other M cars ever produced, and it is not available with a manual transmission.

The core of the BMW M philosophy has always been that "The chassis must always be more powerful than the engine." meaning that the platform that an M car is built on must be lightweight and confident in corners, have excellent braking, and be stable at race track speeds so that the car is a precise machine that is able to take advantage of the added power from the base vehicle. Staying true to that philosophy is hard to achieve with an SUV that weighs 5,324lbs. The X6 M's twin turbo V8 produces 555hp according to BMW, which is sent to all four wheels via a 6-speed automatic ZF transmission.

Although I have not test-driven one of these abominations yet, I am very skeptical that my high regard for BMW M will be the same after I do. I have been a die-hard fan of all things M since the first time I drove an M car, a 1996 M3 coupe, and although I currently own an M3, if BMW travels down this slippery slope of compromising it's original philosophy in order to sell higher profit vehicles, my next car may just come from Stuttgart instead of the BMW M plant in Regensburg.