SPY PICS: BMW 2 Series GranCoupe

BMW is in the process of concocting a next-generation 2 Series-based, four-door GranCoupe that will supplement its existing and future lineup of four-door “coupes”. It’s due in offshore markets later this year.

With the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and Audi A3 sedans among its main competitors, the rakish 2 Series GranCoupe will run a front-drive configuration stemming from the use of the same UKL2 platform. The underpinnings are shared with the locally-discontinued BMW 2 Series ActiveTourer model, as well as many MINI variants.

The question will be whether BMW decides to invoke the AWD driveline available with the platform to create some sort of M version (likely M Performance rather than a full-blooded M) of the GranCoupe as well…

It’s a given that the pint-size GranCoupe, like MINIs and other BMWs from 3 Series down, will be motivated by three and four-cylinder powerplants and there will be a choice between automatic and manual gearboxes, at least in Europe.

Expectations are that the 2 Series GranCoupe will, in a lot of ways apart from having a slinkier roofline, mimic the front-drive 2 Series sedan that is sold only in China.

The vehicle is only marginally bigger than BMW 3 Series sedans from the 1970s (BMW has emphatically ruled out any chance of that model coming to Australia). As such, it’s mooted the 2 Series GranCoupe will run a longer wheelbase than the upcoming front-drive 1 Series hatch.

The test mule featured in these photographs was snapped circulating the streets of Munich in Germany and shows typical GranCoupe styling cues, including the steeply-raked rear deck and a quarter window extending into the C-Pillars.

Unlike the five-door 4 and 6 Series BMW GranCoupe hatchbacks, the 2 Series GranCoupe, from a close look at the rear deck as seen in the spy photos, looks as if it will be a four-door.