BMW brings back the 8 Series

BMW’s answer to evaporating demand for luxury coupes like its 6 Series looks simple: more size, more styling, more space, more luxury, more money and a bigger number for its name.

Due to arrive as a production car next year, the Concept 8 Series is a glittering example of BMW’s new-found push towards a richer model mix and higher profit margins, and a lesser focus on volume at the bottom end of its range.

This is the car that formed the basis of the sketch BMW teased recently, and made its debut overnight at the Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza festival of the automobile, though it was actually unveiled at the neighbouring Villa d’Erba.

Officially dubbed a concept car, its chamfered, swooping body panels will be faithfully reproduced in production, BMW’s Senior Vice President of BMW Group Design, Adrian van Hooydonk, insisted.

“The BMW Concept 8 Series is our take on a full-blooded, high-end driving machine,” van Hooydonk insisted.

“It is a luxurious sports car, which embodies both unadulterated dynamics and modern luxury like arguably no other. For me, it’s a slice of pure automotive fascination.”

Van Hooydonk, who was personally responsible for the design of the second-generation 6 Series Coupe, which debuted in 2003, suggested the BMW Concept 8 Series’ new form language and sharper lines might find their way into other future BMW production sports models.

“The design of the BMW Concept 8 Series provides a fresh interpretation of iconic BMW styling cues,” he said.

“It also showcases a new approach to the use of forms which is reflected particularly prominently in the car’s surfacing.

“A handful of crisp lines mark out clear surfaces, and the car’s volumes are powerfully sculpted. Together, these elements make a forceful statement and create a model brimming with character. In short, this is a driver’s car.”

While BMW has yet to release any detailed specifications or powertrain information, the 8 Series will be larger in every dimension than the 4895mm-long F13 6 Series Coupe and will deliver greater rear passenger space by adding more length to the outgoing car’s 2855mm wheelbase.

Based on the architecture of the current 7 Series flagship, the production version of the Concept 8 Series is planned to pitch its price tag somewhere between the 760i (the M760Li is priced from $419,000 in Australia) and the entry-level Rolls-Royce coupe, the Wraith ($645,000).

Sources suggest the concept car runs twin-turbo 6.6-litre V12 petrol power, which is planned to be the nameplate’s flagship powerplant in production.

M will build a faster M8 model, powered by the M5’s biturbo V8.

“The number 8 has always represented the pinnacle of sports performance and exclusivity at BMW,” Board of Management Chairman, Harald Krüger, said.

“The forthcoming BMW 8 Series Coupe will demonstrate that razor-sharp dynamics and modern luxury can go hand-in-hand.

“This will be the next model in the expansion of our luxury-car offering and will raise the benchmark for coupes in the segment. In the process, we will strengthen our claim to leadership in the luxury class.”

The big coupe runs a long nose and a short tail, typical signatures of large coupe BMWs, though the bulbous arch that allows the bonnet to clear the engine and meet pedestrian-impact legislation seems a little ungainly, but only from a front-three quarter angle.

In profile, the concept is dominated by its clean proportions, with an ultra-low bonnet line, a higher boot line, 21-inch alloy wheels, bulging rear wheel-arches and huge scalloped cuts trailing from the front wheel-arches down the length of the doors.

The shallow lights use laser technology, while the BMW kidneys have been lowered and broadened to emphasise its width and cameras replace traditional side mirrors.

It won’t be the first 8 Series on BMW’s books, with BMW building 31,063 versions of the original E31 8 Series from 1989 to 1999.

Like the new concept car, the E31 8 Series was conceived not as a successor to the then-outgoing E24 6 Series Coupe, but to open up an entirely different market segment further upstream.

BMW will quietly slip the 8 Series onto the 6 Series’ Dingolfing production slots early next year, bumping the third-generation 6 Series Coupe into retirement to end its seven-year production run.

That won’t be the end of the 6 Series badge, though, because BMW will keep building the very useful 6 Series GranCoupe.

It is committed to launching a sleek, cleanly styled new 6 Series later this year to replace the ungainly 5 Series Grand Turismo. Sources who have seen the car insist it’s philosophically closer to the Audi A7 than the taller, plumper 5 Series GT.