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Come on. You didn't really think BMW would sit back and let the other luxo-manufacturers fight it out for supremacy in the four-door-super-sort-of-coupe market, did you?
With the Porsche Panamera and Merc CLS well established and the Audi A7 not far from forecourts, BMW has shown its intention to give the competition a doffing-up by unveiling the Concept Gran Coupe in Beijing.
See pics of the BMW Concept Gran Coupe
It's a four-door, five-metre coupe-saloon with a roofline a full 10cm lower than the 5- and 7-Series saloons. Word on the show floor is that it previews the production version of the new 8-Series, though all BMW will say officially is that the Gran Coupe ‘illustrates the aspiration of the brand to build four-door high-performance coupes'. Sounds promising.
We're also told that the concept ‘carries the essence of brand values and the genes of BMW design into the future', which roughly translates as ‘expect to see these styling cues turn up all over our range over the next few years'. Looks to us like BMW is moving away from Bangle's controversial flame surfacing towards a sleeker design language. We suspect many shall approve.
There's no word on what engine might lurk within the Gran Coupe's long bonnet, so hell, let's speculate. Remembering that the 8-Series of the 1990s (which was, admittedly, a two-door, and a rather lovely one at that) was available solely as a V8 or V12, what would you like to see powering the Gran Coupe when it reaches production?
If it reaches production, we meant. If...
Sam Philip
Open Car Bar
What do you think?
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Nico94 commented on this article
at 03:04 pm on 23 April 2010
Beautiful!
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Gergo commented on this article
at 03:08 pm on 23 April 2010
It will probably have the 4.4 litre twin turbo v8 from the X5M and X6M,but i´d like to see the V12 bitubo from the 760Li in it,but with the power tuned up to about 600 HP .It would be cool.
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Sambawacki commented on this article
at 03:11 pm on 23 April 2010
IF it reaches production, don't make it an M8, give it a lovely V10 from the M5 (who can go wrong there) and make it so that people can buy and enjoy it (so about £50,000). Now THAT would be a great car!
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Showie commented on this article
at 03:16 pm on 23 April 2010
given that it will (hopefully) be a BMW that no one will actually buy, it means it has a chance in life to be cool, and it deserves every chance because, look at it. so it needs a nice n/a V12 for an M series and the V10 from the M5 for the.. 850i? please.
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AshHorne commented on this article
at 03:32 pm on 23 April 2010
A 4.5L supercharged V8 based on the M3's engine. Then for the top range model, take the 5.0L V10 from an M5, add a supercharger, and you have around 600bhp (and quite easily more) of 8-series goodness. Or cave in to eco-mentalists and give it a hybrid. Anyone?
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