M None

Finally, they did it. Or, he did it. Or – ooops, they did it. The Bayersichen Motoren Werke made its own retro car. It's the crushing end of an era of Chris Bangle-styled, highly eccentric and futuristic cars. The new BMW is called M1 Concept and it's the first retro-designed BMW. It may be found embarassing. While the modern BMWs made its name thank to very fresh, original and stereotype-breaking design, this one breaks with breaking. The M1 Concept is a hommage to old M1 supercar, which was not appreciated in 80s, but is appreciated now. The new car adds nearly nothing to the M1 heritage - it's only a curved, more sculptured version of a classic; they followed Audi men, who made same mistake with Lamborghini Miura „renewal”. The „new” M1 remains the old one very much, but new Dodge Challenger (boring retro, again), Giugario Mustang and bits of old and new BMWs can be seen in its shape, too. So, it's a number of modern and classic cars glued together in fancy 3D software. Is it really so exciting? It seems that the revolution era in BMW has just ended. After making shocking 7 series, wonderful Z4 and number of other impressive cars, Bangle (who change the motoring world with them) went on holiday. OK, we like the rare and classy M1. But do the new car something in common with the old one? The first M1 was born on a racetrack, had unique design made by the best of the best (Giugario in 80s was such a power), and was a business failure (what helps being a legend a bit). The new M1 is made because of advertising needs, has no own styling at all, nor soul, it's all borrowed somewhere. It's a shadow of old glory – a parasite, not a predator.