BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe (2012): Spy Video

BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe Spy Video at the Nurburgring

The BMW 6-Series Gran Coupe – BMW’s answer to the CLS and A7 – is due to arrive in the UK in 2012. We have spy video of the Gran Coupe at the Nurburgring.

The CLS started it all, and the A7 joined the party. But BMW aren’t going to be left out of the four-door, swoopy coupe market for long with the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe due to arrive in the Summer of 2012, after the Gran Coupe Concept was revealed at Frankfurt last year.

Ahead of the debut of the Gran Coupe – probably at Geneva in the Spring as a production-ready car – BMW are out doing the James May favourite trick of shaking it down at the Nurburgring. Which augers well for its handling, if not its feather pillow ride.

Basically a stretched version of the new 6 Series Coupe, the 6-Series Gran Coupe gets a cut and shut with an extra set of doors – and a couple of proper seats – bolted in.

Which means that much of what’s under the skin of the new 6-Series will also arrive in the 6-Series Gran Coupe. So there will be double wishbones up front and a multi-link job at the back, and probably the same engine options.

Those engine options will be the 640i Gran Coupe with the 3.0 litre straight-six turbo, the 650i Gran Coupe with the twin-turbo 4.4 litre V8 and a the frugal version – the 640d with around 300bhp.

Also on the cards are a couple of high-end versions. There’s a fighting chance BMW will endow the Gran Coupe with the same 552bhp V8 from the M5 – and planned for the M6 – and even the V12 from the 7-Series,. Although that’s a long-shot.

It’s also thought – with all things green and eco being the order of the day – that BMW may pop a four-pot in the Gran Coupe in the form of a twin-turbo 2.0 litre turbo diesel and stick a 625d or 630d badge on the back.

We’ll doubtless find out more as the Gran Coupe gets closer to launch and BMW reveals more of what they’re going to offer.

But the new 6-Series Gran Coupe looks set to be a bit more than a token offering by BMW in the four-door coupé sector.