FUTURE MODELS
BMW turning five to six with a new philosophy
Out with the frumpy, in with the sleek for BMW’s big, new liftback, writes Michael Taylor
The lid has been lifted on BMW’s new 6 Series Gran Turismo, which will make its public debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Due on sale in SA in November, the 6 Series GT is a leaner-looking, sleeker big executive car that tacitly admits the failings of two generations of the unloved 5 Series GT. Based around a product-planning philosophy clearly derived from Audi’s A7 strategy, the five-seat liftback will arrive in SA in two derivatives including the 630d and 640i xDrive. There is no expectation for a full-house M version of the sexier new liftback, though there has been internal pressure put on M’s president, Franciscus van Meel. A future M Performance Automobiles model will be the compromise car, despite the success of Audi’s RS 7 twin-turbo V8 monster and the availability of the M5 powertrain. M has provided broad hints that it already has the M5’s 4.4l twin-turbo V8 loaded up in an all-wheel-drive test mule that should in 2018 become the M550i xDrive GT, while its ne...
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