BMW turns 100 years old next year (2016) and will use its centenary year to launch the BMW M2, the spiritual successor to the legendary 2002.

ACCORDING TO THE press guff, “BMW is set to enter its anniversary year of 2016 on a powerful note”. Indeed. The German car maker will debut its much anticipated BMW M2 at the Detroit Motor Show in January as well as the X4 M40i… and its electric vehicle range. Whatever.

The BMW M2 might be one of the most anticipated performance cars of 2016, but it will also put the pressure on BMW M3 and M4 performance cars. The M2 is also considered the spiritual successor of the turbocharged BMW 2002 of the 1970s.

“The compact high-performance sports car perfectly encapsulated BMW’s resolution to deliver outstanding dynamics, agility and car control. And now, over 40 years on, BMW M GmbH is unveiling the new BMW M2, as if to demonstrate once again that this commitment is alive and well,” BMW said in a statement.

Running a 3.0-litre turbocharged six-cylinder engine, rear-wheel drive layout and lightweight aluminium M Sport suspension the M2 should live up to promise. The engine makes 272kW at 6500rpm and 465Nm of torque with an overboost function pushing that to 500Nm. It runs a manual transmission as standard and a cost-option double-clutch transmission.

Thanks to launch control, the M2 will get to 100km/h in just 4.3 seconds while top speed is limited to 250km/h. Fuel consumption is 7.9L/100km although we doubt you’ll get within cooee of that in the real world.

For track day warriors, the M2’s Dynamic Stability Control system gets M Dynamic Mode (MDM) which allows wheel slip and “therefore moderate, controlled drifts on the track”. Yee and ha.

We’ll have more information once the M2 makes it debut at the Detroit Motor Show.