It was a secret Volkswagen experiment that should not even exist

In the automobile world, where the competition between brands It is relentless, there are always curious stories and impossible experiments, especially when it comes to Development of a new engine. A clear example can be that occasion when someone came up with the Motor of a plane in a BMW.

A similar idea had Ferdinand Piëch, grandson of Ferdinand Porsche and CEO of the Volkswagen Group until 2015. Piëch was an obsessive of the engines and wanted to develop a New more powerful and efficient block for your high -end cars.

However, the brand had no adequate car in its catalog to test the thrust of its new engine. So Piëch He bought a BMW M5 and set up a Volkswagen W10 inside That would never see the light.

The boss’s passion: create the best engines

He Bugatti Veyron development He already showed that Ferdinand Piëch was obsessed with developing The best engine in the world. According to He affirmed a video From the Drivetribe channel, that obsession led him to buy a BMW sports berlina to serve as a mule to test his new W10 engine.

What makes this case even more unique is that, for decades, the prototype of Ferdinand Piëch was so secret that it was thought that it never existed and it was believed that it was an urban legend that Volkswagen denied by active and passive. However, Recently it came to light Thanks to a Belgian sale, revealing fascinating details about its construction and performance.

At the end of the 90s and early 2000s, Ferdinand Piëch got between eyebrow and eyebrow developing engines in narrow “V” to expand a catalog of engines as I had never seen the German brand before.

Under the supervision of Piëch, the German manufacturer lived an era of Experimentation and unusual creativity. From the VR6 that roared under the hood of the golf R32, to the W12 and the W16 that gave life to the Audi A8, the Volkswagen Touareg and, of course, the Bugatti Veyron.

In his attempt to optimize the performance and efficiency of his engines, Piëch came up with two V5 engines as those that mounted the Golf MK4 and the first batch of the Seat Toledo, to obtain a W10. Since no group of the group met the requirements to house this engine, the Volkswagen CEO decided to cross the limits: it bought a BMW M5 E39, it took away its original V8 engine and made it the platform they needed to test the W10.

Volkswagen did not limit the New engine in the BMW opening anyway. He integrated it as if it were a production model in such a neat that seemed to have left directly from the assembly line.

In fact, unlike conventional development prototypeson the outside the car did not attract attention and maintained the classic appearance of an M5. His secret was that under the hood he housed an engine that produced between 456 and 507 hp and a maximum torque of 550 nm.

His performance was so good that even Ferdinand Piëch used this M5 E39 as a personal car to move daily for a while, although it lacked electronic assistance systems such as ABS or traction control.

A myth come true

The existence of a BMW M5 E39 with a Volkswagen W10 engine was considered for decades Like a myth. There were rumors that the prototype had been destroyed or that it never really existed. The car, now known as the experimental M5, looks an adhesives on the lighthouse and in its back in which its purpose is clear: try the Volkswagen W10 engine.

The interior of the vehicle remains exactly the same as any M5 of the time, with the exception of the control box, since the manufacturer added a personalized one with some additional switches that allowed it to activate or deactivate functions to test your performance and obtain additional information.

For everything else, a production car that would not attract attention to see it parked in any 2000 business parking lot, although under its hood it snoring a unique engine that has never seen the light.

That makes this prototype a Exclusive piece for collectors That, although the seller does not offer a sales figure, from Drivetribe they ensure that he will approach a lot to Price of a pure Ferrarialthough Volkswagen invested more than two million dollars in developing the engine that moves it.

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Image | Flickr (Olli Vininio, Adam Court)