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Franciscus Van Meel who was the boss of the Audi Quattro division has officially relocated to the BMW brand as the new head of their hugely popular selling M Performance line up. He will take over the role from the 1st of January in 2015 and with this big change being made could the BMW M performance sector be all set to step up once more. The M performance line up from BMW is very well known all around the world and we have seen many vehicles go on to be flagship models from this line up which include the M3, M4, M5 and the M6.

 

The R8 line up and the majority of Quattro models from the Audi firm are the big vehicles which have made an impression by Audi and were also launched when Franciscus was in charge of the division. Will his talents now carry over to the BMW brand though and can the vehicles achieve much success in the same manner that the Quattro line up have?

 

Why has Franciscus jumped ship to BMW?

The exact reasoning behind this is yet to be confirmed completely but it is believed according to reports that he has traded his place in Audi for his BMW role due to a clash with Audi's research and development head Ulrich Hackenberg over the development decisions made with the R8 and new all electric R8 E tron model.

 

After a run of thirty six years with the BMW brand and three years in charge of the M performance line up, Dr. F Nitschke will officially retire and Van Meel will be his direct replacement. Both the Quattro and M performance line up are ideal competitors for other brands such as British firm Jaguar and the third top spot German brand Mercedes. Given the move from Audi to BMW, can Franciscus bring the fight to these other brands even more?

 

How will Van Meel's experience benefit BMW and the M range?

Van Meel has been a part of Audi and has held various positions within the company since 1996 and has held positions within technical development and chassis development also. Without a doubt, technical features are a big part of the production process of a vehicle as are chassis features. This leads us to believe we may see more technological advancements in M models from BMW in the future and perhaps even more lightweight driving experiences into the future.