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Remember when I chastised Jaguar for not adequately covering its final F-Type models yesterday?

In comparison, for the M2 launch, BMW dropped more than 220 interior, exterior, and action images across nine galleries. The M2 is special, sure, but its forward-thinking parent company is all about those photo shoots for every new model.

If you manufacture products—especially if they’ve got 2-4 wheels—learn from BMW’s lead and invest in high-quality photography.

2023 BMW M2 • I’ve always had a soft spot for BMW’s smallest 1 Series and now the 2 Series. Not for any specific reason, except for its size as the smallest in the lineup.

The latest pocket rocket from Bavaria gets 460 horsepower from a turbocharged straight-six engine, your choice of manual or automatic transmission, and no choice of drive—it’s rear only, as preferred by Clive.

20 years on from The Hire series that put factory-sanctioned drifting on the map for M-thusiasts, computers are able to assist hooliganism more than ever, as BMW highlights in its release:

Regardless of the choice of transmission, the new BMW M2’s traditional form of dynamic performance is also embodied by its rear-wheel drive. The linear build-up of lateral acceleration forces characteristic of M models helps the driver to guide the car through corners with controlled drifts, for example. The standard M Traction Control function is also designed to allow the driver to carefully probe the vehicle’s performance limits by setting individual intervention thresholds for wheel slip limitation, with a choice of ten stages.

If I went through the M2 bumper to bumper, this newsletter would be 5,000 words and hey, this ain’t Road & Track or whatever. Read up on the car’s official release and specs below.

The all-new BMW M2. • BMW

see also ::

I understand the sales projections, product planners, platform engineers, and marketing plans that lead a company like Subaru to conclude there’s no point in creating both an STI sedan and an STI wagon.

Sure, their bones are nearly identical, the wagon is already certified for sale just about anywhere, and the powertrain can be lifted straight from the STI sedan…

“—but nobody’s going to want it,” I hear the higher-ups say.

Fast forward a few years and YouTube’s longest-running independent car program, Mighty Car Mods, took a wrecked Subaru Impreza STI sedan and transplanted all of the good bits into a commuter-spec Australian Subaru Levorg (aka Impreza) wagon.

The whole process is available online, but the build came together so easily it’s surprising Subaru itself can’t offer a dealer conversion kit or something to capitalize on this before the aftermarket does. Subaru Crosstrek STI, amirite?

Fast forward to the drifts 👉 here.

EJ and manual swapped, how does it drive? • Mighty Car Mods

Foxtron Model B • Imagine how good the Ford Model T would have been if Henry had spent the previous 20+ years manufacturing millions of highly-decorated digital devices for Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft (XBOX), Sony, Google (Pixel), and Amazon (Kindle).

Now that Taiwanese manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd.—you know ‘em as Foxconn—is showing a car called the Foxtron (not -conn) Model B, I’d be curious to try one simply because of Foxconn’s manufacturing abilities in other areas. Does any of the experience in making devices like iPhones translate to making cars?

And although Pininfarina handled the design, so far there is only a potato-quality (480p) 30 second teaser on YouTube for this upcoming may-be-made-in-Ohio-USA car. I don’t know who needs to hear this, but your engineers and designers have been working hard: Do. Better. Marketing.

It's beauty. It's beast. It’s designed with #Pininfarina: Model B • pininfarinaofficial

see also :: Foxconn’s Pininfarina-Designed Model B Could Steal Tesla’s Thunder In The Small Segment • Carscoops :: Foxtron EV (website) :: Foxconn (Wikipedia)

None of the billion-odd personal vehicles on earth were ever created in a vacuum, for a vacuum. They are largely the result of the desires of men, becoming effluent skimming across our societies, profit for the lucky ones, art to some, and heartbreakingly destructive for too many.

An open letter to people who make machines (2020)

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