What's all this about?
Later this year, BMW will bring us an all-new 1 Series, based on a front-wheel-drive platform (boooo!) that it will share with the MINI family. And, in turn, the One will begat the 2 Series, also front-wheel drive... and due to have a new body type added to its roster, in the form of the Gran Coupe.
This is one of those 'four-door' coupe misnomer things, isn't it?
It is indeed, but it has worked well so far for BMW in both the 4 Series and 6 Series ranges. Also, BMW is clearly keeping one eye on that pesky bunch down the road in Stuttgart, as Mercedes is making its A-Class offering much broader this time around. We already know there will be an A-Class saloon, as well as (bafflingly) the return of the rakish CLA, which will be the 2 Series Gran Coupe's most obvious rival. Whether BMW will also feel moved to counter the impending CLA Shooting Brake remains to be seen, although we remain hopeful.
Yes, yes, very nice. But can you get back to the 2 Series, please?
Sure thing. The Gran Coupe was announced by BMW's CEO, Harald Krüger, at the company's annual conference in Munich. He explained that the 2 Gran Coupe was 'a particularly design-oriented model for modern, urban target groups' and then went on to confirm that it would share a 'multitude of technological developments' with the front-wheel-drive 1 Series hatchback, which will launch in 2019. The 2 Series Gran Coupe, by the way, will gain its world debut in full at the LA Auto Show in November, before a predicted on-sale date sometime in spring 2020.
OK. What do we know of the design?
Just what you can glimpse here. There's a Hofmeister kink in the C-pillar, an oh-so-trad BMW design signifier, while the 2 Series Gran Coupe clearly has wide rear light clusters like an 8 Series; we're praying that it also doesn't have monstrous great front kidney grilles, as seen on the updated 7 Series, though. We also like the neat little boot lip spoiler, which hints at the Gran Coupe's supposedly sportier nature. This immediately makes us think of the new 2 Series gaining either M Performance or full-on M treatment, or (preferably) both.
Matt Robinson - 20 Mar 2019
