BMW has just previewed its carbon-fiber-bodied concept car propelled by a 591hp plug-in hybrid powerplant. Called Vision M Next, the model is touted as the spiritual successor to the company’s M1 supercar built between 1978 and 1981.
While the Vision M Next is undoubtedly packed with all sorts of advanced technologies (seen to trickle down to BMW’s more mainstream models), one other really interesting thing about the car is that BMW has went to the trouble of hiring the services of a famous composer to create the car’s drive soundtrack.
Known for scoring countless Hollywood movies is Hans Zimmer, who this time around partnered with Renzo Vitale, an acoustic engineer and sound designer at BMW Group, in composing the drive sounds and audible alerts of the Vision M Next. The pair worked in Zimmer’s studios both in London and Los Angeles to create sounds meant to inject emotion into driving near-silent electrified cars.
Branded as “BMW IconicSounds Electric,” Zimmer’s and Vitale’s work seeks to stem the possible alienation a driver — who most likely is accustomed to hearing an engine when driving — may feel upon switching to an electrified car. What BMW aims for in its aural pursuit is to “connect” the driver to the car.
“When the driver interacts with the accelerator pedal, this becomes not only a mechanical touchpoint but also a performative element. Accelerating becomes an experience during which the driver moves through a series of gradually morphing sound textures,” Zimmer says.
The composer says he believes sounds are evocative, narrating how as a child he was always able to recognize his mother coming home by the sound of her car — which was a BMW.
Well, he says he is also a BMW enthusiast, and so is “thrilled” to have been tapped to compose the sound of the brand’s future cars.
BMW says IconicSounds Electric is just the latest in its sonic affair; this actually began 10 years ago with the introduction of the Mini E test fleet. The company’s acoustic engineers were then working on artificially generated sound intended to make cars with barely audible drivetrains be heard by the driver and pedestrians. So, when BMW launched the full-electric i3 model in 2013, the car already offered a choice of acoustic pedestrian alerts.
This sound has since been further developed as various new laws demanded pedestrian protection alerts. So now this has found its way into all BMW plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles. BMW says that while it’s important to make the cars more easily heard by pedestrians (without them causing a disturbance), drivers and passengers must also be able to enjoy the acoustics inside the vehicles.
“We want to get BMW IconicSounds Electric in position for customers who value emotional sound. With this they will be able to experience the joy of driving with all their senses,” said Jens Thiemer, senior vice-president at BMW.
Sounds like a plan.
