BMW is about to show off a design concept for an 8-Series coupe, according to a report at Jalopnik. The company’s chairman confirmed that the car will be available in 2018 for the first time in more than a quarter of a century.
The 8-Series coupe is layered above the company’s top-of-the-line 7-Series cars and is likely to have a price to match. The first 8-Series car was introduced in 1989 with a 12-cylinder engine that produced 300 horsepower for a tidy $70,000. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $134,000 today. Production of the car ceased in 1999.
Chairman Harald Krüger said:
The BMW 8 Series Coupe will build on our tradition of luxurious sports coupes and add a genuine dream car to our line-up – a slice of pure automotive fascination. The 8 Series Coupe will underpin our claim to leadership in the luxury segment. I can tell you today that this will be a true luxury sports coupe.
Speculation has been heating up about the features of the new car and whether there will be different versions available. The base version could stick with a V-8 engine with a V-12 version available. An M8 high-performance version may also be offered.
A BMW 7-Series 740i has a starting price of $81,500 and an Alpina B7 xDrive starts at $137,000. The 8-Series will likely be priced somewhere between the Alpina and a Rolls Royce Wraith that starts at around $315,000. Does $200,000 sound like a reasonable ballpark figure?
Here’s the 8-Series concept sketch BMW released earlier today.
Chances are the new 8-Series will be a more user-friendly car than the notoriously complex 1989 850i version:
Ask a BMW technician about the 850i sometime. They’ll speak with deep regret in their voice, like the car was their White Whale. “I almost fixed one once,” they’ll say between long drags of a cigarette as they look mysteriously off into the distance, “but the son of a bitch got me in the end.”
Jalopnik has more on the rumors and the prior version of the 8-Series.
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