BMW is making some changes to its Gran Coupe family by adding a 2 Series GC and promoting the 6 Series GC to the revitalized 8 Series family. Today, we’re able to share some fresh images of the bigger swoopy sedan carrying less camouflage than ever before while undergoing testing on the streets of Munich in Germany. However, don’t get too excited since the disguise has come off the prototype’s front fascia to reveal what basically everyone was expecting: a design inherited from the 8 Series Coupe.

Nevertheless, it’s nice to see more of the car’s metal, a car which may very well be the hot M850i version judging by the blue brake calipers behind those large alloy wheels. The pair of massive exhaust finishers at the back housing the quad tips is identical to what you’ll see on the two-door coupe in the M Performance guise. The front bumper appears to have been virtually carried over from the coupe, so there are enough reasons to believe this is the M850i.

If that’s the case, the prototype had a twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 engine underneath its long and imposing hood. With 523 hp and 553 lb-ft (750 Nm) of torque at its disposal, the M850i Gran Coupe will have enough punch to go after the Porsche Panamera, Audi A7 Sportback, and the Mercedes-AMG GT 4-Door Coupe. Should that not be enough, a fully fledged M8 GC is in the works and it should hit the 600-hp mark with ease.

BMW will introduce the 8 Series Gran Coupe next year in this M850i flavor along with probably a diesel-fueled 840d derivative for European markets. As for the top dog, the M8 with rear doors, we’ll probably have to wait until 2020 when it will join the coupe and cabrio body styles.

If you want a nice and good and fine four-door BMW, you get a BMW 5 Series. If you want a nice and good and fine version of that four-door but want it with only two doors, you get a BMW 8 series. If you want a nice and good and fine four-door version of the two-door version of the BMW 5 Series, you get this, the 2020 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe. And no, we don’t care how silly that is, because this really does look good.

(I know this is all confusing, but bear with me now. We’ve been talking about the BMW 8 Series for a while, however this all bears repeating. It barely makes sense to me and I’m swimming in car nonsense all the time. The BMW 6 Series was a nameplate resurrected by BMW for the 2004 model year to serve as sort of a coupe-y version of the BMW 5 Series, and which ran for two generations, including coupe, convertible, and fastbackvariants, until 2018. That car has been replaced by what is essentially a car filling the same niche in every, known as the BMW 8 Series. But it’s the same idea. Anyways, hi, hello, let’s all just relax and get through this.)

There’s this notion out there that just because your car has four doors, it is a sedan, and thus it must be a bit rounded around the edges. It must be a bit squatter, a bit chubbsier, if it were. We don’t make rules like that for anything else. We don’t say, “oh, your car has four tail lights? Well then it must be painted mauve.” But the sedan rule is sadly the code of the yard in which we live. So if it has four doors, and really looks athletic as hell, it must be called a Gran Coupe, in BMW parlance.

All that is a bit of a red herring, though. Because this isn’t really just a BMW 5 Series with a shrink and then another stretch. It’s a unique design from the windshield back, so sayeth BMW in its press release:

BMW says that the sedan version of the BMW 8 Series is nine inches longer with a 7.9-inch longer wheelbase, 1.2 inches wider, and 2.2 inches taller than the BMW 8 Series coupe. Even the front seats have a thinner profile, to afford backseaters about 7 inches of leg room over the coupe.

(Though, curiously, BMW doesn’t provide a handy comparison of the rear legroom in the 8 Series Gran Coupe to the 5 Series Sedan. Hm.)

But for all the petty squabbling over the name, let’s just talk about the car for a second. It really is the sort of proportions that all modern sedan makers should aspire for. I mean, as all of SUV-and-crossover-dom does a subversive slide into what really is just a regular car, why not have regular cars be long and low and look muscular as hell?

I mean, just look at this thing. It’s all odd bulges and crevasses. It’s a bit like the same effect you get from looking at the underside of a stealth fighter.

The inside looks pretty great, too, with the rear especially looking like two cobras swaddled up in New York Yankees gear – truly, an evil combo if there ever was one:

As for the front, well, it’s pretty standard upper-level BMW circa now:

And since it’s an upper-level BMW from circa now, you get BMW’s upper-level-BMW-circa-now engines as well, namely the B58 turbocharged inline-six with 335 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of torque (available in both rear-and-all-wheel-drive, naturally), and a turbocharged 4.4-liter V8 pumping out a heaping 523 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque.

Both will get you moving just fine, I’m sure, and both route the power through the company’s eight-speed “Steptronic Sport” automatic transmission. Though you already knew that sort of stuff, if you were paying attention to the BMW 8 Series at all before just this moment.

Anyways, if you’re a true 2020 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe obsessive, because sure that’s a thing, go check out BMW’s whole rundown of the car here. They talk about the flappy paddles for the transmission and the wheels and how they’re still going to try to sell you on electric steering, nearly 20 years later.

They also have a ton of super high-res photos, which you can peruse to your greatest pleasures. What do you think I’m gonna do, spend my night here uploading a million huge photos of a nice BMW sedan (prices starting at an eye-watering $84,900, of course, and that’s with only six pistons in the engine, it’ll be $108,900 if you want eight of those)?

Look, I said the thing was pretty. I didn’t say it would change your life. Just click the link if you really want it.

Unveiled with great pomp and circumstance in 2018, after its racing version went official at Le Mans, the current generation of the 8 Series is not that long in the tooth yet, but on the other hand it is not what it seems either.

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Available as a coupe, a convertible and even as a swoopy sedan that’s more like a four-door coupe, the modern iteration of the BMW 8 Series lineup is mostly a re-marketed 6 Series, which is why it doesn’t excel in passenger space compared to a 4 Series, for example.

What it does excel compared to a 4 Series, on the other hand, is the use of a more traditional deign language, especially when it comes to older BMWs that don’t have a giant kidney grill throning at the front of the car.

After three years of trying to establish a serious foothold in the luxury grand tourer market, BMW's biggest GTs no longer need to fear competition from Mercedes-Benz, but that doesn’t mean the Bavarians are standing still.

With that in mind, BMW has just started public testing of various 8 Series LCI prototypes in various guises all over Germany.

With LCI (Life Cycle Impulse) meaning ‘facelift’ in BMW-speak, a lot of people might be expecting that the refreshed 8 Series might get a similar gargantuan kidney grille as its smaller brothers, but they would be wrong.

Oddly enough, despite defending it for almost a year, the Bavarians will not be using that grill on another one of their models, so the revamped 8 Series is safe in that regard.

Spy photographers have caught pre-production prototypes of the 2023 BMW 8 Series Coupe, 8 Series Grand Coupe and an M8 Gran Coupe in the past few days and they all seem to share one thing in common.

That thing is a minimal change to the overall exterior design, which seems to include slightly slimmer headlights and redesigned front and rear bumpers. The taillights might also get different graphics, but other than that it will look quite similar to the current 8 Series lineup.

More changes might be found inside, while the engine lineup is expected to be electrified with mild-hybrid technology all across the board.

Relatively few folks plunked down the cash for BMW’s M8 Coupe and M8 Convertible in the models’ 2020 launch year. In fact, BMW overestimated demand by a wide enough margin that both the Coupe and Convertible versions of the M8 didn’t see a 2021 model year. BMW said it had enough stock of 2020 model year M8s to last, justifying the decision to not make a 2021 version.

However, the hiatus is over, and the M8 Coupe and Convertible are back for the 2022 model year per an official BMW announcement. There’s one big change to note for 2022. Instead of offering both the standard and Competition models, all M8s will be Competition models (even the Gran Coupe) with the 617-horsepower version of BMW’s 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8. That seems righteous, as if you’re going for the flagship BMW car, you probably want the best there is. It also means the 2020 non-Competition models will likely be rather rare to come by in the future, assuming BMW doesn’t switch back to offering the 600-horsepower non-Competition version again.

Pricing for these new 2022 M8 models is out, too. Both the Coupe and Gran Coupe have identical starting prices of $130,995. The Convertible causes this price to rise considerably up to $140,495. All of these prices are far lower than where BMW started in 2020, which is likely a direct result of their low sales. For example, the 2022 M8 Competition Coupe and Convertible models are $16,000 less than their 2020 equivalents. The Gran Coupe is cheaper, too, as it’s $13,000 cheaper than its 2020 equivalent.

​​​​​​​Will these deeply discounted prices mean more M8s on the road? We’ll just have to watch sales figures and find out. There are a couple notable packaging/option changes for the 2022 model year M8s that we’ll also point out. The big one is the ability to spec the M carbon bucket seats that debuted in the new M3 and M4 — those will run you $3,800 and hug you very tight. And secondly, Aventurin Red Metallic has been added as a color option for those interested in a purpley-red M8.

With striking design modifications to the exterior and an interior that has been further developed in numerous details, premium carmaker BMW has honed the profile of its luxury sports cars. A redesigned front section makes for an exterior look that is as dynamic as it is elegant. In addition, all model variants of the new BMW 8-Series Coupé, the new BMW 8-Series Convertible and the new BMW 8-Series Gran Coupé come with an M sports package as standard. This means that the interior likewise conveys an even more intensely focused impression of driving pleasure. Operating convenience and connectivity are optimised by an enlarged 12.3-inch Control Display for the BMW iDrive system.

More than ever, the luxury sports cars of the BMW 8-Series embody a passion for inspiring performance and exclusive style. The BMW "Iconic Glow" kidney, which is standard on all model variants, now adds a particularly expressive accentuation to the exterior. On the inside, the BMW Individual Merino leather upholstery - now a standard feature - contributes to the luxurious ambience.

The BMW M8 Competition Coupé, BMW M8 Competition Convertible and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé all stand out with their blend of sublime performance, captivating luxury and commanding presence. In spring 2022, BMW M GmbH will sharpen the profile of its high performance luxury sports cars with the introduction of well-conceived modifications to their design and upgrades for their control and operation technology.

Available in three body styles, the latest edition of the BMW M8 makes its mark with new additions to the range of exterior colours and M light-alloy wheels. M lights Shadow Line will be available for the luxurious high performance models for the first time, opening up extra scope for customising their appearance. Meanwhile, full Merino leather/Alcantara upholstery in the new Black/Sakhir Orange colour scheme brings extra freshness to the cabin. The BMW iDrive operating system now also comes with a 12.3-inch touchscreen display for greater ease of use.

The BMW M8 Competition Coupé, BMW M8 Competition Convertible and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé all stand out with their blend of sublime performance, captivating luxury and commanding presence. In spring 2022, BMW M GmbH will sharpen the profile of its high performance luxury sports cars with the introduction of well-conceived modifications to their design and upgrades for their control and operation technology.

Available in three body styles, the latest edition of the BMW M8 makes its mark with new additions to the range of exterior colours and M light-alloy wheels. M lights Shadow Line will be available for the luxurious high performance models for the first time, opening up extra scope for customising their appearance. Meanwhile, full Merino leather/Alcantara upholstery in the new Black/Sakhir Orange colour scheme brings extra freshness to the cabin. The BMW iDrive operating system now also comes with a 12.3-inch touchscreen display for greater ease of use.

BMW M GmbH boosts its presence in the luxury segment

The BMW M8 Competition Coupé, BMW M8 Competition Convertible and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé represent the pinnacle of the BMW M GmbH model line-up, and give the brand a strong presence in the luxury segment. Thanks to their specific body concepts, the range-topping trio bring their own individual interpretations of signature M performance to the highly prestigious world of luxury sports cars.

Powertrain and chassis technology engineered to deliver an exhilarating driving experience is a key element of all three models. The power for the cars' formidable performance is generated by a V8 engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology that develops maximum output of 460 kW/625 hp and peak torque of 750 Nm (553 lb-ft). In customary M fashion, the engine's appetite for revs enables it to produce high levels of torque over a wide rpm band, while an eight-speed M Steptronic transmission with Drivelogic and the M xDrive all-wheel-drive system ensure this power is channelled to the road to optimum effect. The various powertrain elements work together with great precision to deliver sports performance that satisfies and excites - such as 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) acceleration in just 3.2 seconds (BMW M8 Competition Coupé and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé) or 3.3 seconds (BMW M8 Competition Convertible).

Chassis technology developed using expertise from motor sport and individually tuned for each specific model ensures the harmonious mix of dynamism, agility and precision that marks out the handling of cars from BMW M. Experience garnered in the development of the BMW M8 GTE racing car was also brought to bear here.

Eight new exterior colours, premiere for M lights Shadow Line

The unmistakable visual appearance of the BMW M8 Competition Coupé, BMW M8 Competition Convertible and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé is defined by their powerful forms, generously sized, elegantly sculpted surfaces, aerodynamic lines and M-specific design features geared to the functional requirements of a high-performance sports car. New exterior colours now bring extra impact to the body's clean surface design. The updated selection of exterior paint finishes for the trio of models includes eight new shades.

The new range of exterior colours includes Skyscraper Grey metallic, Brooklyn Grey metallic, Isle of Man Green metallic and the BMW Individual paint finish Tanzanite Blue metallic. These are joined by four new variants of the highly sophisticated Frozen paint finishes, whose silk matt shimmer accentuates the modern design language of the BMW M8 models to striking effect. Customers can now specify the BMW Individual special paint finishes Frozen Pure Grey metallic, Frozen Deep Grey metallic, Frozen Deep Green metallic and Frozen Tanzanite Blue metallic.

BMW Laserlight including adaptive cornering function and BMW Selective Beam non-dazzling high beam assistant is fitted as standard to maintain optimum visibility in all weather conditions and driving situations. The new editions of these high-performance sports cars can now also be ordered with the optional M lights Shadow Line. The dark finish for the inlays and chrome detailing inside the headlight units help to give the front end of all the cars eye-catching visuals and a sporting feel, an effect enhanced by the standard High-gloss Black finish for the BMW kidney grille surround.

New 20-inch M light-alloy wheels in star-spoke design

The chassis technology on the new BMW M8 models allies electronically controlled dampers and electromechanical M Servotronic steering to an integrated braking system offering two pedal feel settings, allowing the driver to choose between more comfort-oriented or direct, sporty response. Customers can opt for M Carbon ceramic brakes as an alternative to the standard M Compound brakes.

The DSC (Dynamic Stability Control) system hands the driver the option of engaging M Dynamic Mode, which allows increased wheel slip. Together with the M xDrive system's rear-biased set-up, this gives the driver the tools to execute extremely sporty driving manoeuvres, including controlled drifts. 20-inch M light-alloy wheels fitted with high-performance tyres measuring 275/35 R 20 at the front and 285/35 R 20 at the rear also come as standard. Further M light-alloy wheels with the same dimensions can be found on the list of optional extras. They include a new model in star-spoke design with a bi-colour Black/Grey finish.

M sport seats and M Carbon bucket seats in new leather/Alcantara upholstery variant

The interior of the new BMW M8 models is a blend of unmistakable M-style cockpit design and modern luxury. The standard BMW Head-Up Display features M-specific readouts. The Setup button on the centre console offers direct access to the settings for the engine, dampers, steering, M xDrive and brakes, enabling drivers to configure their own individual M Setup. Two different setups can be stored permanently, together with the driver's preferred settings for the engine sound, gearshift characteristics, driving stability control system and Auto Start Stop function, and then selected by pressing one of the two M buttons on the steering wheel. In addition, the M Mode button on the centre console can be used to alter both the responses of the driver assistance systems and the information shown in the instrument cluster and Head-Up Display, with a choice of ROAD, SPORT and TRACK settings.

The standard M sport seats are another factor in the intense driving experience offered by these high-performance sports cars. For authentic racing-car flair, there is also the option of M Carbon bucket seats for the driver and front passenger. Boasting a structure-led design, exposed carbon fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) surfaces, integral head restraints, cut-outs in the backrest and side bolsters, plus guides for multi-point seat belts, these seats combine racing functionality with excellent comfort over long distances and sumptuous workmanship. They are heated and electrically adjustable with a memory function on the driver's side and also come with an illuminated "M8" badge in the head restraints.

The interior of the new BMW M8 models is trimmed in full Merino leather/Alcantara upholstery as standard, whether they are fitted with the M sport seats or M Carbon bucket seats. This upholstery is also available in a Black/Sakhir Orange colour scheme for the first time, and all variants feature black Alcantara sections that have now been extended to cover the instrument panel and the tops of the door shoulders.

12.3-inch control display for greater ease of use

BMW Live Cockpit Professional also forms part of standard specification for the BMW M8 Competition Coupé, BMW M8 Competition Convertible and BMW M8 Competition Gran Coupé. This brings a large control display (increased in size from 10.25 to 12.3 inches) whose touchscreen enables quick, easy and intuitive operation of a wealth of vehicle functions.

The BMW Live Cockpit Professional features include the online-based navigation system BMW Maps and the BMW Intelligent Personal Assistant. The inclusion of the Driving Assistant, Parking Assistant including Reversing Assistant, telephony with wireless charging and Harman Kardon Surround Sound System as standard on the new BMW M8 models further underlines their exclusive character.