Italdesign Nazca C2 History

The Nazca M12 concept debuted at the 1991 Geneva and Tokyo motor shows, designed by Fabrizio Giugiaro (Giorgetto's son) around a mid-mounted 300 PS BMW 5.0-litre V12 and a full carbon-fibre chassis weighing just 1,100 kg. BMW sanctioned use of its name and kidney grille on the project as a study for what an M1 successor might look like.

A revised Nazca C2 appeared in 1992 with a repositioned headlamp treatment and an Alpina-tuned V12 producing 345 PS. Three BMW-badged cars were constructed; the Sultan of Brunei commissioned two further examples without BMW branding but with Alpina engines, bringing the total to five. In 1993 a C2 Spider variant with removable glass roof panels was shown at the Monaco Grand Prix.

BMW ultimately declined to put the Nazca into production — wary of repeating the commercially disappointing M1 experiment — making the five built examples among the rarest cars of the 1990s. The project nonetheless influenced BMW's design language and demonstrated Italdesign's ambition to create complete, drivable supercars rather than static show pieces.