A few weeks ago we told you why we believe BMW M will indeed build an M2. Despite their best efforts to infer they have no plans to build an M2, we all know that BMW M is run by car guys. And car guys tend to want to put big engines with lots of power in small cars. It’s what BMW M was built on. And there is no better small car in BMW’s range than the new 2 Series for just that.

M235i Race Car 03

Here’s where the new rumors come in. Auto Express (not exactly the NYT of auto journalism mind you) spoke to an BMW insider recently and they let slip:

>…a new M2 Coupé ‘makes a lot of sense’.

>A source confirmed that a road-going version of the M235i Racing (a track-only customer race car) was considered for production. However, the plans were then scrapped when it was decided that it would “step on the toes of something else higher up the range.” Our source added that this refers to a new M car.

What should we expect? Auto Express throws out 380 hp but we wouldn’t expect numbers quite that high. Instead we’d look for something in the CLA45 range which is around 350-360hp along with copious amounts of torque. Weight will be an issue M will want to solve given that the M235i tips the scales at 3,500 lbs. But they did it with the 1M in a very short time so we’d expect the same attention to detail.

BMW 1M

In fact we’d expect a lot of details that M didn’t have a chance to get to with the 1M.

When should we expect it? While the car has likely not been approved by the board yet, we’d expect that things will be easier than last time. Remember it took BMW M boss Kay Segler three times in front of the board to finally get the 1M pushed through. With that said we wouldn’t expect anything before 2016. That would give the car a four to five year life-cycle as the F22 will likely wind down production around 2021.

We will have lots more on the M235i and a potential M2.