BMW Concept Gran Coupé: Elegance, Wasted?

The 2007 Concept CS was a Shanghai surprise of refined Bangle-era BMW styling. Now, three years later, the German brand's trying to again redefine their look and feel with the Concept Gran Coupé — that'll make an elegant 6 Series.

According to BMW, the Concept Gran Coupé has a body design meant to "authentically capture a sense of superior dynamic performance and high-quality elegance." OK, sure, whatever you say. All we know is it's got a coupe-like roofline and an overall shape we can love. More importantly, it has lines that seem to, you know, follow through from the front to the back. See, was that so hard?

BMW claims "the Gran Coupé is a 4-door vehicle which combines the exclusivity of a Gran Turismo with the fascination of a high-performance sports car." All we do know is at just a touch under 197 inches the Gran Coupé is a few inches longer than the new 5 Series (and four inches lower at 55.1) and longer still than the 8 Series. So although it initially looked as though it'll be less of a production model and more of a design model used as the basis for exterior design for any new models, we've now found it'll be sold and marketed as the BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe. Looks like the BMW Concept Gran Coupé won't be elegantly wasted after all.