Up until now, BMW enthusiasts have been impatiently waiting for the Bavarian brand to reveal the long-awaited second-generation BMW 8 Series. That time is now. Ahead of its official reveal in person at this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, which takes place tomorrow, BMW is taking the wraps off the upcoming 8 Series Concept Car and showing it to the world today. We showed you teaser photos that leaked last night, bringing about much speculation and discussion. Now, though, we get to see the real deal concept car, the design that the upcoming 8 Series was built off of.
From the outside, it’s very clear what BMW’s intention was — to make a traditionally big, sporty and luxurious GT car. Its proportions are just right, with a long sloping hood, short rear deck and low profile. While this is obviously a concept and its features are a bit exaggerated, we can see that the elements for a great looking car are there. This is a caricature but the production car has the potential to be stunning, being based on this.
“The number 8 has always represented the pinnacle of sports performance and exclusivity at BMW,” said BMW CEO Harald Krüger. “The forthcoming BMW 8 Series Coupe will demonstrate that razor-sharp dynamics and modern luxury can go hand-in-hand. This will be the next model in the expansion of our luxury-car offering and will raise the benchmark for coupes in the segment. In the process, we will strengthen our claim to leadership in the luxury class.”
At the front, we see the nose plunge down toward the road more aggressively than any other BMW. That nose also features massive kidney grilles that, thankfully, don’t blend into the incredibly squinty and angry headlights. The hood is also sharply creased and the front air intakes are simply enormous. Expect these features to be tamed way down for production duty but the idea of having such an angry face is a good one for the 8 Series. Give it some aggression, some snarl so that it isn’t just another luxo-barge GT.
“The BMW Concept 8 Series is our take on a full-blooded high-end driving machine,” said Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice President BMW Group Design. “It is a luxurious sports car which embodies both unadulterated dynamics and modern luxury like arguably no other. For me, it’s a slice of pure automotive fascination.”
It’s in profile and from the rear three-quarters that this concept looks best, though, which is ironic because that’s also where the original 8 Series looked its best. The overall silhouette is very pretty, with its low and lean look, accentuated by its muscular hips. It’s a proper rear-wheel drive GT sports car, at least in terms of style. One interesting design is the change to BMW’s now-signature Air-Breather. What’s currently a little vent immediately behind the front wheel has now become a massive air vent that actually creates most of the side body creases of the car. BMW’s signature Hofmeister Kink is also present and looking sharp, especially with the absence of a B-pillar, another 8 Series staple.
From the rear, the BMW 8 Series Concept looks as subtle and elegant as the original. The taillights feature BMW’s signature “L” design with a bit of funk to them and the rear deck is sculpted nicely. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the huge trapezoidal exhausts but I’m no fashionista. One interesting note about the rear of the car, if you’re looking at it head on, is that you can sort of see some empty space between the actual taillight and the rear deck above it. It almost seems like an aerodynamic feature, similar to the BMW i8′s. But if you look at it in profile, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere for air to get there. Though, from looking at the rear, you can clearly see a bit of the ground through the taillight. If this is the case, I hope that design makes it to the production car, as that aerodynamic taillight on the i8 is one of its absolute best features.
The BMW 8 Series Concept is painted in a new color, called Barcelona Grey Liquid, which is a greyish/blue with highly iridescent pigment. It shows off the smooth surfaces and sharp contours really quite well. The 21″ wheels also look great and we hope they make production.
Inside, the cabin is design to be more of a cockpit than a luxurious throne room. Rather than the be luxury car that the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe or Lexus LC500 are, the 8 Series Coupe’s interior is designed more in the realm of an Aston Martin DB11. There’s definitely a sporty pretense about the interior of this concept. The driver sits low in the carbon fiber-backed buckets, which are lightweight, thin and covered in supple leather. These aren’t your granddad’s luxurious leather thrones, but the seats of a high-end sports car. The new steering wheel features three hand-polished aluminum spokes with the rim wrapped in alcantara and red shift paddles. There are also little red paddles on the steering wheel of the upcoming BMW M5, so we hope this is something BMW continues on its sportier cars as it adds a nice little pop.
The center console beautifully flows up to the instrument panel, which is fully digital, in a similar vein as the recently-departed 6 Series Coupe. That was the 6er’s best interior quality and we’re glad some semblance of that still remains in the 8 Series. The center console also flows upward to house the iDrive screen, which looks like it could be production ready right now. The flowing carbon fiber, aluminum and piano black trim all look great. What’s also interesting is the completely new shift-lever, which is small and sporty looking, far superior to the funny looking wedge of modern BMWs.
Next to the shift lever is a red “Start/Stop” button, which is a new placement for BMW, as the starter button was usually dash-mounted right next to the steering wheel. It looks good on the center console though. Also, the iDrive rotary knob received a bit of a makeover and is now a knurled aluminum knob that looks far more upscale that the current plastic one. A black gloss touchpad remains on top of the rotary knob and is covered in Swarovksi glass with a “Smoky Quartz” look. The cabin is my favorite part of this Concept and really evokes the spirit of a high-end sporty GT car. We really hope that a lot of the design elements in this concept, such as the starter button, flowing console and shift lever, make it to production.
According to BMW, this 8 Series Concept is a preview of what’s to come from the real car. This is encouraging news, as this would be one of BMW’s prettiest cars in a long time and would likely make us forget about losing the very pretty 6 Series Coupe. Live photos of the BMW 8 Series Concept will be coming tomorrow, at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, so we’ll get an even better look then. We’ll also be seeing the real car sometime next year. If this 8 Series Concept is a good idea of things to come, we’re very excited. While not perfect, this Concept shows a lot of promise.
More photos in the gallery below:
Thankfully its a concept. That interior needs quite a bit of work for it to truly compete with the likes of an S-Class coupe.
I quite like this minimalistic interior.
this interior shits on the shit class coupe
Triggered fanboy spotted lol
He’s right.
There is no such thing as being right when it comes to personal taste and biased-opinion kid.
Yet you feel free to slag & name-call his personal taste.
Kid. Your name is also pretentious.
i was just about to say the same! lol i think hes just jealous
Jealous about what? lol!
You know that maturity hasn’t peaked with the word “shit” is used in the same sentence twice. Or, do you beg to differ?
Can’t differ with incoherence.
“this interior shits on the shit class coupe” doesn’t get more butthurt BMW fanboy that that.
As with the original 8er, this is not a competitor to the large M-B Coupe. It is an alternative.
That is one nice looking coupe!
I don’t like the trapezoid exhaust either. It makes the rear lines point downwards vs outwards, as if the shoulders are being pinched together. I made a quick mockup of rectangular tips that make the lower fascia look broader.
BMW, I’ll be expecting my cheque in the mail.
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exhaust look nothing like that in production model look at spy shots its similar to the M760Li without a split in the middle and its more edgy thicker border
hey you’re right. Those look much better. Well concepts are for experimenting after all.
yes :)
beautiful coupe!!! looks so good inside and out WOW https://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/BMW-8-Concept-Series-photos-10.jpg
After looking at the video it does look good. The grilles are too big though, but the prototypes seem to have smaller ones so it’ll benefit from that.
yes production version will have the perfect balance
They better finally use this light design with the X in the middle though >:-(
I CANT STOP LOOKING AT IT 😍
They have succumbed to peer influence (Audi, Lexus, etc) on design to emphasize the height of the front grille. Wide fascia was a signature BMW design, not tall. If these kidneys make it into production, mark my words people will opt to have them “blacked” out in order to sedate their visual drama. The rest of the exterior design feels coherent.
Well actually, the older BMWs had tall grilles. It’s around the E3x era that they started to have them wider, the E32 being the best example of that because the 6cyl had a tall grille and the V12 and V8 models had much wider (and bigger) ones.
Also the fact that the engine are getting more complicated implies more cooling therefore bigger grilles.
The older and classic BMWs had tall kidneys that were thin in profile. It was stylistic expression and it worked in that era. Now they seem to be designing the iconic kidney grilles to be wide AND tall, resulting in simply huge kidneys. With them chrome, they risk adding a lot of visual fuss and drama. But that is, of course subjective.
Peer influence or pedestrian safety regs? Size matters, BMW’s Parthenon & Kidneys are coming to meet in the middle. I love it, like an ICE i8 on ‘roids.
I would definitely say that the upright vertical front end is a direct response to pedestrian safety, as it’s echoed in many modern cars. However, I’m not convinced that the surface area of the aforementioned vertical front end is required to be “grille”. IIRC, Audi was one of the first to push the huge front grill design language.
All in all, I breathe a sigh of relief that the hideously frumpy silhouette of the 3er/6er GT did not make it into the flagship icon that is 8.
There is no 6er GT.
https://www.bmwblog.com/2016/11/21/bmw-6-series-gt-details-engines-equipment-packages/
Concept. There is no 6er GT.
Nowhere in the article does it describe the 6er GT as a “concept”. An “hommage” to a classic BMW like the 3.0CS or the 2002tii is a “concept”. Engine variants being assigned with specific model names are no longer “concepts”. Reading comprehension ftw.
It is not in production.
Is it?
You are wrong. BMW have a long history of doing pre-production show concepts: Turbo, Z9, 1er, X4, many more. Just because you type or ignore something doesn’t make it true.
Conversely, just because you see camouflage on a vehicle performing road testing doesn’t make it a “concept” or untrue. BMW has a longer history of bringing camouflaged road-tested vehicles into production, so check your facts.
In the case of the 6erGT, I actually wish you were right, and that it’s merely a bad concept as I can’t stand the frump that is “Gran Turismo”. Alas, I know I will be disappointed.
They produce over 2 million vehicles annually, on their way to 3 – choose something else!
l really like the interior, they usually don’t change much from the production concept to the production car so hopefully it’s the case here as well. The rear seats seems to be for shorties and kids though
me too but i thought it wouldve had a passenger display?
It looks pretty good except for that front grill. If they could shrink it on the production car a little bit (or a lot) it would be awesome.
I was hoping it would stand out from the wrest of the BMW lineup just like the original 8-Series did. I think they’ve succeeded, it looks great.
Wonderful concept. Interior is elegant and a notch above any past BMWs. Exterior is aggressive, almost a modern homage to the 6-series shark.
The only thing I question is the male model in the photo shoot, which had some really strange poses (jumping? leaning against the guard rail? sashaying?).
i think those are glimpse shots
Horatiu I want to know your thoughts do you like it? :)
I like it, it’s what I expected, a 6 Series successor but with a new twist, especially inside. It will definitely look different in production form, but it will be a looker, I have no doubt. Imagine an M8 on that platform.
It’s a very sexy shape. She’s gonna sell nicely, me thinks.
The exterior is hideous and almost as ugly looking as a Lexus. Go back to the drawing board BMW!
Good thing you’re a typist & not a designer.
No need for you to feel butthurt. Sorry I made you feel that way lol
Neither my butt or feelings are available to you. Sorry! Not.
You seem pretty upset though, lol
As with your name you are still flattering yourself. It’s about there 8 Series. Not you.
It’s beautiful, a nice and agressive exterior look, the interior is elegant.
The concept remind me a little bit of a Lexus and Aston Martin DB11 especially the interior.
I just notice the iDrive rotary knob is almost as the new Z4 spyshots.
great spot
Is this BMW actually taking risk on design? YES!!! The interior will change a bit as with most concepts. But man; I LIKE LOL
Simplicity of the interior is Ace! Elegant imho
It’s very nice overall. That said, the traditional design cues like the headlights, grille, taillights and Hoffmeister kink are all the least-BMW of any BMW yet. Definitely taking some styling risks here!
I guess that’s all likely to be toned down for production. Actually, now that I check the spy pics again, the production 8 looks set to be quite different from this Concept, with more traditional cues.
There is just one sad thing. The Gran Lusso went completely unused. I was kinda hoping for those rear lights to make it on the new 8 Series.
There is just one sad thing. The Gran Lusso eventually went completely unused. I was at least hoping for those rear lights on the 8 Series.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/451e54605c85dc68e1de9ee6628847d9dac4b86a27ecb0b90bff5f3409196c16.jpg
While the rear is quite a welcome departure (although not too much, i must say) from current Bimmer crop, its the front that is still in line with other models. And that’s not a good thing, in my book. Especially when these latest models look spent and fatigued and are taking, righful, hit for how lame and boring they look. Problem is that this thing may end up looking inexpensive just like G11/12/30 and that may not go down nicely with most prospective buyers. Hoping for something significantly different and new in production model.
What an interior though !!! Step aside Audi, new champion of minimalist design beauty has arrived. Things are placed ergonomically, Design details are fresh, precise, and tasteful. And if the interior quality of G11/12/30 is anything to go by, this thing would be running circles around S-class Coupe. Its already become the wallpaper of my PC.
Although BMW may end up adding more design elements in production model, this design is a proof enough that all is not lost in BMW design department.
I feel like they still need the 6 series, the 8 Concept confuses me, it’s nice don’t get me wrong, but the 6 is a damn super sexy beast.
New 6er with old soul and 8 name). I like it!
Wow it’s so gorgeous!! And the production car will look even better! I love that they didn’t try to create a BMW S Class Coupe; this is much more of a sporty vehicle. It will (hopefully) be the perfect balance between sportiness and luxury! Can’t wait to see one in real life. Thank you, BMW.
E31 vs 8 Series concept (roofline)
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The S-Class coupe will simply shit on this crap. It’s just enough to look at the 1980’s steering wheel and you’ll immediately will feel as if you are in an Opel.