Last April, from the sidelines of the 2010 Beijing Auto Show, BMW displayed a thinly disguised concept model of a sporty-looking sedan model named the Gran Coupé. Now, it looks like that the Bavarian automaker is preparing for the presentation of the final production model as the company has just filed a patent for the designs of its so-called four-door sports coupe.
The images outline the shape and details of the production version that will most likely go on sale in early 2012. By comparing the drawings of the production car with the photos of the concept model, we see that BMW has made some subtle styling changes to the front with the redesigned bumper featuring a center grille on the lower part as well as to the rear, which sports re-positioned and re-sized reflectors and different tail pipes.
If our description of the styling changes seen in the patent images is not to your satisfaction, then all you have to do is take a look at the front and rear ends of the production version of the 2012 6-Series Coupe [F13] and Cabriolet [F12] as the Gran Coupé is virtually a four-door 6-Series.
BMW officials have said that their four-door sports coupe will be “closely aligned with the 6-series coupe both in terms of technology/platform, and pricing”. This means BMW’s rival to the successful Mercedes CLS and the Audi A7 car will eventually offer the same mix of six- and eight-cylinder petrol and diesel engines along with an eight-speed automatic transmission and possibly a 6-speed manual gearbox in certain markets as the latest 6-Series models.
The car’s name remains a mystery for now; however, we heard from the grapevine that it could be called the 6-Series GT.
PHOTO GALLERY
_______________________________________________________________________ BMW GRAN COUPE CONCEPT 
