BMW M has confirmed that it’s developing a new halo supercar, one that could revive the spirit of the M1 from the late 1970s. Though the company hasn’t released any official details yet, the news has already sparked creative interpretations. Among them is a striking digital study by independent designer Sebastiano Ciarcia, who has envisioned his own version of a next-generation BMW exotic. He calls it the Ethos.

More: BMW Almost Launched An All-Electric Hypercar With 1,300 HP

This digital concept channels the same energy as the striking Nazca C2 prototype from the early 1990s, originally penned by Italdesign. There are also clear influences from the BMW i8 and the Vision M Next concept from 2019, both of which serve as recent milestones in BMW’s design evolution.

A Study in Surface and Stance

The BMW Ethos has a dramatic, low-slung stance with a wide footprint. A glass canopy covers the cabin, while partially exposed rear wheels recall the look of vintage Italian exotics. Up front, Ciarcia reimagines BMW’s signature kidney grille with a cleaner, body-colored design and a small, offset BMW badge. According to the designer, the grille pays tribute to BMW classics from the 1950s, like the 503 and 507.

Another highlight is the LED headlights which are integrated within the front intakes, slightly reminiscent of Peugeot‘s 9X8 Le Mans Hypercar. The sculpted fenders are protruding from the rest of the bodywork, contributing to the athletic profile. Ciarcia describes the surfacing as “a contrast of soft and hard volumes”.

Around back, the Ethos features a slim, full-width LED light bar, an active spoiler, and an aggressive diffuser to tie it all together.

Illustrations Sebastiano Ciarcia

Designed With Future Powertrains in Mind

Although the concept doesn’t display any obvious signs of an internal combustion engine, it isn’t imagined as fully electric either. Instead, Ciarcia envisions a hydrogen fuel-cell setup that could deliver performance on par with a modern hypercar, an approach that leaves the door open for alternative propulsion technologies.

To help bring the design to life, the Ethos has been rendered in a Champagne finish and placed in a setting that feels perfectly suited: the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on Lake Como in Italy. It’s the same venue that BMW introduced the limited-production Speedtop shooting brake this year, following the Skytop from 2024 and 2023’s Z4-based Touring Coupe.

More: BMW Scrapped A 95% Finished Supercar For The XM SUV

When it comes to potential rivals for the Ethos, the designer points to a wide range of high-performance supercars and hypercars, including the Alfa Romeo 33 Stradale, Aston Martin Valhalla, and Ferrari F80. Perhaps the closest match, though, would be the rumored all-electric supercar from Mercedes-AMG, previewed in 2023 by the Vision One-Eleven concept.

Ciarcia is an Italian automotive designer currently based in Gothenburg, Sweden. A graduate of IAAD, he has worked with several major automakers, including Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Rimac, and Volvo. CarScoops readers might recognize his name from a few years back, when he unveiled an impressive mid-engined reinterpretation of the Lancia Delta.

For more of his work, you can follow Sebastiano Ciarcia on Instagram.

Sebastiano Ciarcia

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GM’s interest in hydrogen fuel cell technology may seem like a recent endeavor following their work with Honda, but the American automaker has been tinkering with the stuff since the 1960s. While NASA was busy figuring out how fuel cells could help them conquer the space race, GM was busy figuring out how to make hydrogen work on Earth.

Related: GM’s Electrovair Is The Precursor To The Company’s Electric Future

Batteries of the time didn’t have the beans to power the Apollo command module’s communications, drinking water, lighting, and air conditioning systems, so NASA turned to fuel cells, which turn hydrogen into electricity.

And at the same time, GM, having already created two purely battery-powered EVs in the form of a pair of converted Corvairs, Electrovair I and II, was looking to explore the possibilities for hydrogen power back on Earth.

A Fuel Cell System Too Big for the Job

The fuel cell it created with the help of Union Carbide was so massive there was no way it was going to fit into a Corvair, so GM switched to the Handi-Bus, a passenger version of its Handi-Van and a VW Type 2 bus and Ford E-series rival. Even then, the powertrain’s bulk turned the van into a two-seater.

The system, which combines hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction that produces water, heat, and electricity, wasn’t only big due its large hydrogen and oxygen tanks, but heavy, too. A total curb weight of 7,100 lbs (3,220 kg) makes most modern EVs – GMC Hummer EV aside – look like lightweights, and 3,900 lbs (1,770 kg) of that was down to the fuel cell equipment.

Predictably, performance was abysmal, zero to 60 mph (96 km/h) taking around 30 seconds, though to to fair ,a stock Handi-Bus with the base 90 hp (91 PS) 2.5-liter four was no fireball either. GM reckoned the range was around 150 miles (240 km) but never tested that on the public road due to safety concerns that turned out to be well-founded. During one test an external fuel tank exploded, shooting debris a quarter mile (400 m) away.

A Test Project, Not a Production Vehicle

This was a true test-bed project and GM never intended to put the Electrovan into production. But it showed that a fuel-cell vehicle could work and paved the way for more efficient, more compact successors that get their oxygen from the air rather than from space-eating tanks of compressed oxygen.

Almost 60 years later, GM is still committed to both BEV and fuel-cell technology, particularly believing that its Hydrotec fuel cell cubes makes more sense in big commercial vehicles like Komatus’s mining trucks than batteries, which are better suited to lighter passenger cars, trucks and SUVs.