BMW's Beijing Coupe Coup

KOMPAS.com - With hints of 6-Series in its sleek four-door skin the new BMW Gran Coupe has plans to join the new breed of fast practical 'coupes'.

Look out Porsche Panamera, Mercedes-Benz CLS, Aston Martin Rapide and the rest of the upmarket four-door coupe crowd because BMW is coming after you. Literally.

While many of its rivals are already into production with slinky saloons, BMW has finally decided to drop a serious hint it's headed that way too, rolling out the Gran Coupe concept at Auto China 2010 in Beijing last Friday.

While the 1000 word press release that accompanied the release of the Gran Coupe was long on twaddle and short on detail, the car itself simply screams production in the metal.

The closest the blurb got to revealing anything was admitting "the aspiration of the brand BMW to build four-door high-performance coupes with the sportiest proportions and the most elegant design".

Considering how stylish the Rapide is and how good looking we expect the forthcoming Audi A7 and second generation CLS to be, then BMW has set itself a hard challenge.

Panamera? Meh, not a drama beating that for looks, but the Porsche might be harder for the BMW to toss as a driver's car.

The Gran Coupe measures up at nearly 5m long but only 1.4m tall - that's up to 100mm less than the 5- or 7-Series sedans. Note, too, the latest version of the kidney grille, presented in a shark nose style vaguely reminiscent of BMW's 2007 Concept CS, another four-door coupe.

While the super-sophisticated aluminium-skinned CS was killed off by the financial crisis, the Gran Coupe has a more orthodox and affordable basis, sitting on the same fundamental architecture as the latest 5- and 7-Series.

That means the Gran Coupe will likely share their suite of six- and eight-cylinder petrol, turbo-diesel and hybrid engines, as well as the latest eight-speed automatic transmission.

Obviously, BMW is not talking about the production name of the Gran Coupe, but there is some credence to the theory that this car previews the general styling of the next 6-Series and would be badged as a derivative of that range if and when it arrives in showrooms.

On-sale date? 2012 seems to be where the smart money is being laid. No doubt you'll have to lay out a pretty penny if you fancy buying one.