At the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este 2023 opening, the BMW Group presented its BMW Concept Touring Coupé for the first time. The closed two-seater, which was created for a single piece of manufacture, carries on the legacy of iconic BMW classics.
Exterior
From the front, the two-door fastback resembles the recently updated Z4 roadster identically. However, the quarter-front perspective reveals a completely different animal: sleek and powerful, the restyled silhouette proves to be a classic attention-getter.
The coupe has a long roof that blends with a beautifully sculpted, nearly vertical hatch in place of the customary canvas top. BMW chose to call its newest product Touring Coupe even though it is essentially a shooting brake in order to pay homage to the very first touring model introduced in 1971, which was based on the 02 series. For added depth and lustre, small glass shards have been blended into the custom paint.
It is essentially a Z4 M40i with the electronically retractable fabric roof removed to make place for a hardtop with the iconic Hofmeister kink.
The well-balanced two-seater nevertheless has a cohesive appearance despite the fact that the display car has been totally redesigned from the B-pillar rearward. The tail of the coupe appears more attractive and useful than the Z4’s short, crowded back end.
The kidney grilles and tailpipes are coated in matte bronze, as is the signature BMW Hofmeister kink visible in the side profile. With the bulging hatch below and the full-width drag-cutting and downforce-enhancing spoiler that the progressively descending roofline ends in, the car looks quick and furious even when parked.
The 21-inch wheels with Pirelli P Zero tyres are mounted on the protruding rear fenders. Up front, it rides on 20-inchers.
Performance
Although its chiselled exterior gives the impression that it might eat an M4 for breakfast, engineering equipped the coupe with a 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder engine that produces 340 horsepower and is connected to an eight-speed automatic transmission for the European market. The suspension is a carryover item that has not changed.
Interior
The cockpit has leather trim on every wall, as you might anticipate. The tri-tone colour combination combines a brownish grey with a saddle-tone ochre in the middle and striking black accents. The soft cowskin was donated by the renowned furniture maker Poltrona Frau, and the leather is braided in a very intricate pattern that is reminiscent of the baseball pattern used on the original Audi TT roadster.
The special baggage created by the renowned Schedoni leather workshop in Modena for the BMW Concept Touring Coupé exhibits the same high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. The specially constructed set includes a garment bag, two large weekender bags, and one compact weekender bag, and they are all precisely matched to the car.
The question now is, is there enough demand in the markets for a new variation of a model that isn’t exactly flying off the shelves?
