BMW Concept Gran Coupé revealed- BMW 8 Series?

BMW's Gran Coupe Concept - a four door coupe - revealed in Beijing

Just as it did at Frankfurt last year with the Vision ED Concept, BMW has pulled a surprise package out of the bag for the Bejing Motor Show today – The BMW Concept Gran Coupé .

Despite the imposing (5m long) BMW Concept Gran Coupé being a surprise showing from BMW, we really shouldn’t be at all surprised. Ever since Mercedes launched the CLS back in 2005 the four-door swoopy-coupe has been gathering sales and becoming more desired and more in demand every year. We can now add the Audi A7 to the CLS in this category and in all honesty the new Jaguar XJ is a four-door coupe in all but name.

Further up the tree we have the Porsche Panamera and the Aston Martin Rapide, so if the BMW Gran Coupe is a surprise then the surprise is that it’s taken BMW this long to join the game. But it has, and you’re probably looking at the 2012 BMW 8 Series – and probably the next BMW 6 Series from the front doors forward as well.

In many ways this is BMW revisiting the BMW CS Concept from 2007 which was said to point to a future 6 Series and 4-door coupe. But there seems a real intent to produce this car as a dynamic, range topping coupe based on the same structure as the 7 Series and 5 Series GT, with at least the same top-end powertrains.

It also seems likely that the Gran Coupe Concept is pointing the way forward for BMW’s design language, in the same way as the CLS Shooting Break Concept is for Mercedes. Which is in itself promising news as this concept does have big design appeal with its sporty, flat silhouette, short front overhang and asymmetrical kidney grill.

We’ll be seeing more of the BMW Gran Coupe before too long. You can bet on it.