Heaven knows what BMW pays its photographers Uwe Fischer and Fabian Kirchbauer, but it clearly isn’t enough, because out of a pig’s ear they truly have created a silk purse. You’ll have to believe me here, but the second-generation of BMW’s best-selling M2 two-door coupé is nowhere near as handsome as the car you’re looking at in these press shots.
With its lumps and bumps and industrial style air intakes, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what this super-hot Beemer reminded me of, until finally I snapped my fingers! Briggs Cunningham’s 1950 Le Mans entry, a Series 61 Cadillac, restyled by a team of aerodynamicists and fabricators at aircraft company Grumman, with a result so staggeringly ugly the French nicknamed it ‘Le Monstre’.
I’ll let you make your own decisions on that one, but suffice to say the hospital-equipment light-blue coachwork, called Zandvoort Blue (vastly reminiscent of that chosen by Hyundai for its i30 N, which saw the close attentions of Albert Biermann, ex of BMW) is so successful at misdirecting attention from the Irmscher-on-red-Smarties look to the thing that I’d probably choose it over the Toronto Red shade you’re seeing here.