BMW M boss Frank van Meel is to move from his post to a new one, heading up BMW total vehicle development, after a relatively short stint. The move is due on October 1st and into his place within the M division will slot the chief engineer from the BMW 8-series project, Markus Flasch.

Van Meel was initially poached from Audi Quattro GmbH (now Audi Sport) to head up the division, in the process introducing lots of new elements to BMW M, such as the switchable all-wheel drive system and a torque converter automatic gearbox in the current F90 BMW M5.

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Alongside these technical changes van Meel created a new hierarchy within the M range with halfway-house M Performance models sitting below, and full M models now split in to Competition and CS versions with an eventual return of flagship CSL cars planned. As van Meel has remained under the BMW umbrella, we don’t expect this product plan to change much once his successor is in place.