Photo: SB-Medien
BMW seems to be in the midst of reinventing its range-topping Grand Tourer, with the rumor mill talking about the Bavarians working on an 8 Series revival.
And it's not just rumors that fuel this idea - take a look at the size of the open-top model in these images and you'll notice this is large enough for the 8 Series Convertible badge.
With the carmaker having discontinued its flagship two-door back in 1999, it's about time for the company to fill in this gap.
While we've already spied the fixed-roof 8er, these are the first photos of the Convertible and we already have a hot topic on our hands, namely that nature of the roof.
Zoom in on these spy photos and you'll notice there seem to be hardtop elements underneath the canvas roof surface. However, this could be just an appearance.
After all, the rumor mill talks about BMW be preparing to retire folding metal hardtops and return to cloth roofs, with the next-gen G23 4 Series Convertible, as well as the Toyota Supra-linked Z4 successor expected to turn to such a roof solution.
Then there's the lavish end of the market's preference for canvas roofs and it's enough to look at the Mercedes-Bens S-Class Cabriolet or the Bentley Continental GT Convertible to understand that.
This is also a good opportunity to look back in time at the BMW 850Ci, the convertible one-off built back in 1991 - you'll find a few images of the vehicle in the gallery to your right.
Returning to the 8 Series Convertible we have here, the Bavarian automaker's new CLAR architecture, which debuted with the 2016 7 Series, will serve as a base for the Grand Tourer. And thanks to the intelligent material mix used by the platform, the open-air model shouldn't be that far from the Coupe in terms of weight and torsional rigidity.
As we wrote back in May, BMW has trademarked multiple 8 Series-related nameplates, including the M8. If such a range-topper receives the green light, it will fulfill a dream that's as old as the original E31 itself (think 1989), as the Motorsport Division never got to touch the 8er, despite a prototype being built.
We should see the new-age BMW 8 Series arriving in late 2017, as a 2018 model. And with Maserati also preparing a new generation of the GranTurismo, this segment of the market is on its way of becoming considerably richer.
With the carmaker having discontinued its flagship two-door back in 1999, it's about time for the company to fill in this gap.
While we've already spied the fixed-roof 8er, these are the first photos of the Convertible and we already have a hot topic on our hands, namely that nature of the roof.
Zoom in on these spy photos and you'll notice there seem to be hardtop elements underneath the canvas roof surface. However, this could be just an appearance.
After all, the rumor mill talks about BMW be preparing to retire folding metal hardtops and return to cloth roofs, with the next-gen G23 4 Series Convertible, as well as the Toyota Supra-linked Z4 successor expected to turn to such a roof solution.
Then there's the lavish end of the market's preference for canvas roofs and it's enough to look at the Mercedes-Bens S-Class Cabriolet or the Bentley Continental GT Convertible to understand that.
This is also a good opportunity to look back in time at the BMW 850Ci, the convertible one-off built back in 1991 - you'll find a few images of the vehicle in the gallery to your right.
Returning to the 8 Series Convertible we have here, the Bavarian automaker's new CLAR architecture, which debuted with the 2016 7 Series, will serve as a base for the Grand Tourer. And thanks to the intelligent material mix used by the platform, the open-air model shouldn't be that far from the Coupe in terms of weight and torsional rigidity.
As we wrote back in May, BMW has trademarked multiple 8 Series-related nameplates, including the M8. If such a range-topper receives the green light, it will fulfill a dream that's as old as the original E31 itself (think 1989), as the Motorsport Division never got to touch the 8er, despite a prototype being built.
We should see the new-age BMW 8 Series arriving in late 2017, as a 2018 model. And with Maserati also preparing a new generation of the GranTurismo, this segment of the market is on its way of becoming considerably richer.
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