An unusual combination of models from competing German car brands will be offered at auction. Broad Arrow Auctions is preparing to present a uniquely modified 2000 BMW M5 on October 9th with a preliminary estimate of 250,000 to 350,000 euros. This modest E39 generation super sedan is dressed in a factory paint finish “Carbon Black Metallic“ with black leather, and under its hood hides one of the best-kept secrets in the automotive world. It is the only passenger car ever produced with a Volkswagen W10 engine.
The secret project was born from an uncompromising engineering task set in 1999 by legendary Volkswagen chairman Ferdinand Piëch, who was looking for a high-performance engine capable of competing with the best models from Munich, at a time when neither Volkswagen nor Audi had a direct answer to the M5. Built entirely “under the table”, outside of official corporate R&D channels, at a cost reportedly approaching €2 million, this secret test prototype used a March 1999 M5 chassis, equipped with an autonomous engine management system, a simplified “Stack” racing dashboard and deactivated ABS and traction control, while retaining the car's traditional six-speed manual transmission.
Under the aluminum hood lies a naturally aspirated 5.0-liter W10 engine, developing a solid 473 horsepower, which surpasses the production S62 V8 in power, while also serving as a direct engineering predecessor to the quad-turbo W16 later immortalized in the Bugatti Veyron. According to engineering team leader Sabine Willecke, only three of these compact ten-cylinder units were cast, making this particular M5 the only surviving car in the world powered by this engine - a machine that, as is well known, also served as Piëch's personal car before eventually falling into private hands and being registered on the roads of Slovakia.