BMW has revealed the name, design, as well as the design of the car which will be representing the brand at the 2023 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship - the BMW M Hybrid V8.

Designed by BMW Group Designworks, the M Hybrid V8 celebrates the history of BMW M Motorsport in North America while defining a dynamic hybrid electric future. 

Franciscus van Meel, the CEO of BMW M division said, “The most critical task and the greatest challenge for the design team in the LMDh program design team was that the prototype must be clearly recognisable as a BMW M Motorsport car."

"I can say this to all the fans, just one look is enough to confirm that the BMW M Hybrid V8 is a BMW. It clearly carries the genes of BMW M. I also love the camouflage livery with its references to the great history of the brand in North America."

"Congratulations to the design and aerodynamics departments at BMW M Motorsport and Dallara on their great work. I can hardly wait to see the BMW M Hybrid V8 on the track soon.”

From what we can see, the hallmark of the design for the BMW M Hybrid V8 is the wide kidney. In addition, it boasts typical BMW M design elements such as the nested 50th anniversary logo on the hood, twin BMW icon lights, dynamic body side, Hofmeister kink window graphic, M ‘hook’ mirrors and the tail-lights. 

The camouflage livery in which the BMW M Hybrid V8 will complete its testing, contains many elements from five decades of motor racing history in North America. 

The images of iconic racecars – the 1976 BMW 3.0 CSL, the 1981 BMW M1/C, the 1978 BMW 320i Turbo, the 1986 BMW GTP, the BMW M3 E36 GTS-2, the BMW Z4 GTLM and the BMW M8 GTE – create a graphic mosaic which obscures the shape of the BMW M Hybrid V8 to maintain competitive IP during development testing.

“My team's job was to make the BMW M Hybrid V8 look like a BMW, and embrace every opportunity to make it also perform like one on the race track,” said BMW Group Designworks Global Automotive Director Michael Scully. 

"The camouflage livery celebrates the 50 Years of M by commemorating the great cars of BMW’s storied history in IMSA racing while uniquely cloaking the BMW M Hybrid V8’s future-facing exterior geometry and technologies during the critical on-track development phase of the project." 

That being said, the technical details of the M Hybrid V8 is yet to be shared by the folks at Munich, so watch this space for more updates on the insane looking prototype.