Here’s the V10-Dubbed M2 Clip BMW Released and Tried to Erase From the Internet
What were they thinking?
BMW has had some truly strange marketing strategies as of late, but the brand's "M" performance-oriented sedans, coupes and SUVs practically sell themselves (well, maybe not anymore). One of the best cars in this lineup, the M2 competition, is no exception. It may be confusing, that the German automaker celebrated the new year by posting a video to its Instagram page of an M2 competition doing a big smoky drift. Not confused yet? Well, the exhaust dubbed over the video was clearly not coming from the car's 3.0-liter twin-turbo six-cylinder. Oh no, it sounded a lot more like a V10.
This is strange because BMW offers no vehicles with a V10 engine. Not only is the exhaust sound not from a 2 Series, but it's also likely from a competitor's car. People noticed this, and the short clip was quickly taken off Instagram as people equipped with ears picked up on the obvious overdub. It was previously thought the video was lost forever, but thanks to Robert Mitchell on YouTube, we have a record of it. Skip to about two minutes in to hear the travesty.
It's not clear why BMW did this, because the M2 Competition is far from a bad-sounding car. It wouldn't have been a sin if they just overdubbed some louder exhaust sound from an actual M2 Competition over the clip, but obviously, that's not what they did.
Currently, the only two V10-powered vehicles for sale are the Lamborghini Huracan and the Audi R8—and they use the same engine—so it's either one of those, or to be fair, one of BMW's older M5s or M6s, both of which were powered by 5.0-liter S85 V10s at one point. It could also be any number of other V10-powered cars, of course. Those are just the most likely ones, with Mitchell as well as Top Gear host Chris Harris both saying they heard the Audi/Lambo V10.
In any case, it's fair to say there isn't much logic behind BMWs marketing anymore, so attempting to explain it would be fruitless. I guess it's at least not as bad as Quizno's "Rat Commercial." When BMW starts doing stuff like that, we'll know they hit rock bottom.
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