BMW Gran Coupe Concept Confirmed For Production: Report

Following its unveiling in May, BMW's four-door Gran Coupe Concept has reportedly been given the green light for production.

Just weeks after Audi unveiled its new A7 Sportback, production of the Gran Coupe was reported this week by American magazine Autoweek, giving the big coupe/sedan a 2012 launch.

Klaus Draeger, BMW's product development boss and a member of the company's board of management, reportedly confirmed that the Gran Coupe will launch as a part of the 6 Series line-up. He did not offer further details.

The news follows a similar report in German-language magazine Automobilwoche last month.

If true, the news comes as something of a surprise, with BMW describing the Gran Coupe at its unveiling as nothing more than a design study (although its visual connection to the upcoming 6 Series is clear).

With a long, sweeping windscreen, coupe-like roof-line and pillarless doors, the Gran Coupe is exactly 100mm shorter top-to-bottom than the 5 Series and 7 Series.

In many ways, the styling of the Gran Coupe concept pegs it as a descendant of 2007's Concept CS, a more aggressively-styled entrant in the four-door coupe stakes.

Still officially a concept, little about the Gran Coupe's styling suggests it could not join BMW's bulging-at-the-seams model range in the near future.

If nothing else, the front and rear styling of the Gran Coupe are likely to be a direct preview of what we can expect of the 2011 6 Series, recently spied testing in Europe.