Klaus Draeger, the BMW development chief, has confirmed the commencement of production of the Gran Coupe on the eve of the brand’s Design Night. This move is believed, by automotive experts to take some of the wind out of the Audi A7’s sails. Nevertheless, the car will not be available for purchase until 2012, and hence won’t be seen on the streets until that time.
The Gran Coupe was always rumored to be converted into a production car ever since it had made its debut at the Beijing Motor Show in April this year with reports consistently pointing towards such an event. Klaus Draeger’s announcement comes as the formal and explicit approval while at the same time also serving to comment on the sports car’s desirability.
The Gran Coupe is actually a four-door coupe that conforms to the new tradition now prevailing with looks that will supersede both the 6-series coupe and the 7-series sedan though its slotted in between these two models. The Gran Coupe is also likely to be attached with a 6-Series badge. The car is expected to have a sloping rear roofline and a shorter rear door that will surely not aid in ingress and egress through the rear. In any case, the Gran Coupe will not come in the way of the 7-Series that will still be able to continue with its executive limo status. Similarly the 6-Series Coupe would address the requirements of those who would rather not want to have a four door car.
So who does BMW think will evince interest to buy the Gran Coupe. According to Klaus Draeger, it is those buyers who want the occasional rear-seat access, as offered by the 7-Series, along with the driving pleasure that comes from the 6-Series Coupe version who are likely to be target customers of the Gran Coupe. Thus it addresses the need of buyers who currently have no choice but to compromise on one of the features. Leaving aside all this reasoning as stated by Draeger, the experts opine that while Mercedes already has a four-door sedan on sale in the form of CLS along with Audi already having entered the fray with its A7, this leaves BMW with no other choice but to release the Gran Coupe to survive the competition.
Source: motorauthority
