Yes, it's all kicking off in China. Although Audi did its level best to steal BMW's thunder with the Audi Cross Coupe concept, it was the Bavarian behemoth's Concept CS that emerged on top at the Shanghai show.

A four-door coupe in the mould of the Merc CLS, the Concept CS is based on the same platform as the upcoming 7-series. That basically means it's a big bugger - more than five metres long - but low-slung at just 134cm high.

It's certainly considerably larger than the CLS, and it's likely to weigh in a fair bit pricier too. BMW seems to have targeted the Porsche/Aston end of the grand touring market, so expect to pay on the steep side of 100 grand when it reaches production.

There's a significant chunk of Aston in the styling, too. We're getting strong hints of DB7 in the profile... no bad thing in our book. That sharky nose - described in deeply unsexy fashion as a 'kidney grill' - is all BMW, though, and gives the CS an aggressive air, if somewhat compromising the elegant lines of the rest of the body.

BMW is staying curiously quiet on the technical details of its new concept, but rumours are that the CS will get a six-litre V12 - basically the M5's V10 with another couple of cylinders stuck on.

Now that's the sort of maths we like.