CarBrandLogos archive · BMW · 2016
The small, awkward, rear-drive one — the car people said M had stopped making.
Discover the storyPhoto: Matti Blume · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BMW M2, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
By 2016 the M3 had grown to the size of a 1980s 5 Series, and the complaint that M had lost interest in small cars was constant enough that BMW answered it.
2017 BMW M2 rear 1 · Steinfeld-feld · CC BY-SA 4.0
02
The M2 was built on the compact 2 Series, took the wide axles and much of the running gear from the M3 and M4, and used the N55 straight-six — a single-turbo engine from the ordinary range rather than a bespoke M unit, making 370 hp. Purists noted the substitution; almost nobody minded once they had driven it. A six-speed manual was standard.
2002 Hommage · Matthew Lamb · CC BY-SA 2.0
03
The Competition of 2018 fixed the objection anyway by fitting the S55 from the M4, detuned to 410 hp, and the CS that followed added carbon bodywork and adaptive dampers.
2018 BMW M2 Coupé Interior · Vauxford · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
The G87 of 2023 kept the formula and the manual gearbox while gaining the S58 engine and considerable weight, and became — through no particular effort of its own — the last M car offered with three pedals and no electrical assistance of any kind. That is now most of its appeal, and BMW knows it.
At a glance
Produced
2016–2021Body
2-door coupeTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the M2's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Contemporaries from the 2010s
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