BMW Gran Coupe concept

With its Gran Coupe concept car, BMW has delivered a super-sexy saloon, but is it a harbinger for a Panamera/Rapide competitor or a sneak peek at the upcoming 6-Series coupe and convertible range?

BMW is stretching to fill every conceivable niche in the auto industry at the moment. With the Gran Turismo, BMW took the 5-Series sedan and beefed it up into something of a four-wheel drive wagon/people-mover/hatch hybrid.

With this Gran Coupe concept, the car maker has done the opposite to its 7-Series limousine, carving away at the upright proportions of the limo and leaving us with a sedan that has a very sexy coupe-like profile.

Like any good concept car, the Gran Coupe is fitted with LED headlights and tail-lights.

Revealed at the 2010 Beijing Motor Show, the Gran Coupe could be a design study for an upcoming BMW four-door coupe that will challenge the likes of the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.

Alternatively, it could be a thinly veiled sneak peek at an upcoming BMW 6-Series coupe and convertible.

As you can tell, BMW's being rather coy with the Gran Coupe specifics, but at just over five metres long it's about the same length as a short wheelbase 7-Series.

At less than 1.4 metres tall, the Gran Coupe is a full 10cm shorter than the 7-Series limousine.

This isn't the first time that BMW has shown us a four-door coupe concept car: in 2007, the company took the wraps off the Concept CS.

The Concept CS was heading to production as an 8-Series before the world's financial system imploded and so the project was canned.

Via CNET US