Starting this October 1, Markus Flasch will assume the job as chief of BMW’s M division, taking over from Frank van Meel. The latter will, according to BMW Blog, remain with the automaker as the new chief of its “Total Vehicle” development unit.
But it sure sounds like BMW picked the right person to lead its highly regarded performance division.
Flasch currently serves as development head for the new 8 Series lineup. Prior to that, he was in charge of quality management for all of BMW Group vehicles in the highest luxury segments. As for Van Meel, BMW poached him back in 2015 from Audi’s quattro GmbH division, which has since been renamed Audi Sport.
In only a few short years, van Meel helped the M division reach new heights with several highly praised models, such as the M2 and latest M5. When we last spoke with him at Frankfurt about a year ago, he strongly hinted that he was hard at work developing the M8 and M8 Gran Coupe.
Van Meel also led the X3 M and X4 M programs, and he’ll be handing over to his successor everything done so far for the upcoming next-generation M3 and M4. Another significant accomplishment for van Meel was the expansion of M-car levels. Specifically, there’s now the “base” M models, like the M2 and M5, but also the new M2 and M5 Competition models.
Instead of the standard M3/M4, you can also go a bit more extreme in terms of power output and overall performance with the M3/M4 CS.
CSL versions of some M vehicles are expected in the very near future as well. Based on early reviews of the prototype M850i, which was Flasch’s responsibility, the M division will continue to be in good hands. We can’t wait to see what new ideas Flasch will bring.
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