Is the BMW Gran Lusso Coupe concept the next 8 Series?

By John LeBlanc For those pining for the return of a large, BMW coupe, the new BMW Gran Lusso Coupe concept gives plenty of ideas if the German automaker ever decides to do so. Unveiled this past weekend at Italy’s annual Ville d’Este concours, officially, the Gran Lusso Coupe is a co-production between BMW and Pinanfarina — the first offspring between the German automaker and the famous Italian design house. BMW’s last full-size two-door was the 1989 to 1999 8 Series. Like the 8er, the rear-wheel-drive Gran Lusso is based on a contemporary BMW 7 Series sedan platform and uses the 535 horsepower, turbocharged 6.0-litre twelve-cylinder gas engine from the 760Li. Unlike last year’s well-received Ville d’Este concours BMW Z4-based Zagato Coupe, however, the Gran Lusso gets a whole new body, one that is said to hint at future BMW designs. Outside, the BMW-Pinanfarina concept starts with an aggressive shark-nose look and ends at the back with complex rear lighting. Its proportions are typical BMW: a long front hood, long wheelbase, short rear deck and shallow side glass. Inside, four individual seats make the large two-door a 2+2. The Gran Lusso also sports such unique interior finishes as trim from a single piece of kauri wood from New Zealand and black and tobacco brown leather upholstery from Italy’s Foglizzo. While BMW, for now at least, is saying the Gran Lusso is only a design one-off, it makes a lot of sense that a large, 7 Series-based two-door would eventually make it to production. We already know rival Mercedes-Benz is set to launch the next-generation S-Class-based CL two-door, renamed the S Class Coupe, by the end of this year. Plus, the recently released Rolls-Royce Wraith two-door — as is the Ghost sedan — is heavily based on the 7 Series too. So a large BMW two-door postioned underneath the Wraith in price and prestige would go a long way to adding even more sales and profits to the 7 Series architecture. What do you think? Could the market do with another big luxury two-door? Does the next S Class Coupe need some competition?

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