CarBrandLogos archive · BMW · 2019
The flagship M spent thirty years not building, arriving after the moment for it had passed.
Discover the storyPhoto: Damian B Oh · CC BY-SA 4.0
The story
Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the BMW M8, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.
01
There was an M8 in 1990. BMW built a single prototype on the E31 8 Series with a 6.1-litre V12 making around 550 hp, decided the market for it had evaporated with the recession, and hid the car so thoroughly that the company denied its existence for two decades before producing it, intact, in 2010.
Geneva Motor Show 2371 · Norbert Aepli, Switzerland (User:Noebu) · CC BY 4.0
02
The production M8 finally appeared in 2019 on the F92, and it is a different kind of car entirely: a 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 making 600 hp in Competition form, all-wheel drive with a rear-drive mode, an eight-speed automatic, and a kerb weight around two tonnes. Coupé, convertible and Gran Coupé bodies were offered.
2018 6 Hours of Fuji 82 · https://www.flickr.com/photos/78475089@N02/ · CC BY-SA 2.0
03
It is comprehensively fast and comprehensively insulated, and it arrived into a market that had largely stopped buying large two-door cars. Reviews were respectful rather than enthusiastic, and sales were modest.
BMW M8 Convertible IMG 2026 · Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0
04
Production ended in October 2025. The racing version, the M8 GTE, had a better time of it — it won the Daytona 24 Hours in 2019, which is more than most road-car flagships manage.
At a glance
Engine
Petrol:Designer
Marcus SyringBody
2-door convertibleTechnical specification
Badge at launch
This is the marque emblem that accompanied the M8's era. The full identity timeline is documented in the brand archive.
Explore the logo history →Lineage
Contemporaries from the 2010s
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