Posted on 10 May 2010 by Scott Hayes

Just unveiled last month in Beijing and already tipped for production, BMW’s four-door coupe concept, dubbed the Gran Coupe, is getting a big push from the company. We’ve got new images showing the car’s progression from rough sketch to clay model, through to the finished product.
It’s a typical design process, but it’s nevertheless interesting to see it unfold – especially considering the Gran Coupe appears to be on the fast-track to dealerships. We’ll spare you the press releases’ flowery language and get straight to the gallery, but it is worth noting that while BMW is moving quickly now, it has been very slow to enter the four-door coupe segment.
Mercedes-Benz’s CLS has been on the streets for years now, and Audi (itself late to the game) is already well into testing of the A7, with rumours of a high-performance RS7 in development. That means BMW is playing catch-up, so the Gran Coupe will have to be a stunner just to compete with, much less beat, its rivals. Is this design enough? We want to hear your comments.
Posted on 28 April 2010 by Scott Hayes

BMW has unveiled its potential entry into the flourishing four-door luxury coupe market at the Beijing Auto Show with its BMW Concept Gran Coupé.
Combining the comfort of a Gran Turismo with the aesthetics of a high-performance sports car, the BMW Concept Gran Coupé is likely to join the growing fleet of four-door coupes on the market alongside Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera and most recently the Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Break concept.
Measuring almost five metres long, the BMW Concept Gran Coupé remains spacious even for rear-seat passengers, yet at just 1.4 metres high it retains its coupe-like silhouette – making it up to 100 millimetres flatter than the BMW 5 Series or the BMW 7 Series Sedan.

The forward-tilted shark nose visually extends the bonnet ending in the trademark BMW kidney grilles, flanked either side by sharp, rakish air intakes which house LED day time running lights. The flared wheel arches each house a unique wheel concept where individual spokes extend in towards the centre of the rim, giving it a three-dimensional quality.
Curiously, BMW has not revealed the interior arrangement of its BMW Concept Gran Coupé although it is likely to feature four individual pews like existing models from other brands.