BMW Confirms Four-Door 'Coupe'

(News Today) - BMW is the latest luxury car maker to produce a four-door limousine that looks like a coupe. After six years in denial, BMW has finally confirmed it will develop a competitor for Mercedes-Benz’s CLS.

The car maker’s development chief Klaus Draeger told US industry journal Automotive News the company would build a production version of the “Gran Coupe” concept car it unveiled at the Beijing motor show earlier this year.

The Gran Coupe is a four-door limousine with a svelte coupe-like side profile. It’s a design concept that began with the CLS in 2004 and has taken firm hold in recent years, with a rash of similar concepts from Porsche, Aston Martin and Audi.

Draeger told Automotive News production version of the Gran Coupe would be positioned close to the next generation 6-Series coupe - due next year - and have similar levels of technology.

The 6-Series coupe is based on the 5-Series sedan but has a higher price tag and more features. The 6-Series starts at $227,330 plus on-road costs in Australia.

Draeger told the publication the new model could also get a hybrid petrol-electric drivetrain. The car is expected to be launched in 2012, 12 months after the debut of the 6-Series coupe.

The concept car measured almost 5 metres, but looked smaller thanks to the swooping fastback design and a roof height of just 1.4 metres. BMW hasn’t announced engines for the car yet, but at the moment the 6-Series is powered by V8 and V10 powerplants.

The V10 is unlikely to stay, but a choice of two versions of BMW’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 could be on the cards: the 300kW unit in the current 750i, and the high-performance 408kW engine in the M versions of the X5 and X6. Both engines are expected to be matched to an eight-speed transmission.

The new BMW will face a crowded market place when it debuts, with likely rivals including the Porsche Panamera, Aston Martin Rapide, XJ Jaguar, CLS and the Audi A7, which will launch in Europe next month.

Source : kompas

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