Beat The Wait For A Faster BMW M2 With The Manhart MH2 560

The arrival of faster, harder versions of the new BMW M2 is inevitable. We can pretty much guarantee a Competition version, and probably a CS further down the line, too. If, however, the current 454bhp M2 isn’t quick enough for you, but you don’t want to wait until these faster factory versions arrive, then don’t worry: German tuner Manhart is here to help.

Manhart has thrown various bits at the M2 to create what it calls the MH2 560. The ‘560’ bit is a reference to the car’s new power output in PS, which translates to 552bhp in old money. That hike of nearly 100bhp comes without fiddling with any of the 3.0-litre twin-turbo six-cylinder’s internals; it’s all down to Manhart’s ‘MHtronik Powerbox’, which is marketing-ese for ‘upgraded ECU’.

Of course, a tuner car wouldn’t be a tuner car without more noise, so Manhart has given the MH2 a fully switchable stainless steel exhaust system with a quartet of new 100mm tailpipes. It’s very proud of the fact that all of this will still get the car through Germany’s famously stringent TÜV inspections - sort of teutonic MOT tests. If you live somewhere with less rigorous regulations (or you, ahem, know a guy), Manhart will sell you an exhaust without PPFs, or even full race pipes with no cats.

Manhart will also fit a fully overhauled coilover suspension setup courtesy of KW Suspension, although it’ll also just sell the springs to people who find the full works “a bit too dynamic”. Seriously, Manhart’s words, not ours.

If you find the standard M2’s looks a bit challenging, then this… probably won’t help. The bulk of their exterior changes involve throwing as much carbon fibre as possible at it. There are also more aggressive bumpers, side skirts, a rear spoiler, and diffuser. Guess what they’re all made out of?

Topping off the looks are some incredible kerb-able 20-inch diamond-polished alloys and a set of decals in either blue or matt grey. The interior has been left untouched. Oh, except for the floormats - they’re new.

As is usual with tuned cars like this, you can pick and mix all these parts. For instance, if you just want the upgraded ECU - or much cooler sounding zusatsteuergerät as it’s called in Germany - it’s €2195 (around £1874) plus shipping. We don’t have UK prices for parts, or what it would cost to just buy the full MH2 package in one go, but add the lot up on Manhart’s German website and convert to pounds and it all comes out at just over £16,000 (again, before shipping). In other words, probably the sort of premium you could expect to pay for a future faster M2 from the factory - but Manhart will sell you all this now.

Interestingly, Manhart’s spec for the MH2 only mentions it coming with the eight-speed automatic gearbox, so it’s not clear whether it plans to offer the extra power for manual M2s. Manhart is also very clear that this is just the beginning of its plans for the new M2 - clearly, it reckons there’s plenty more to come from the platform.