2019 BMW 8 Series Gran Coupe leaked in patent image

DID you like the look of the M850i revealed by BMW at Le Mans over the weekend, but your tastes skew more toward the practical side of the spectrum? Worry not, for a four-door alternative is around the corner.

Revealed via an application lodged with the Brazilian trademark office, the production version of the upcoming 8 Series Gran Coupe looks decidedly sober in the application’s no-nonsense three-quarter view. Those featureless placeholder wheels don’t help its cause either, but the 8 Series Gran Coupe’s longer wheelbase, elongated cabin and fatter haunches echo the elegant form of the M8 Gran Coupe concept from this year’s Geneva Motor Show.

Sheet metal ahead of the A-pillar appears identical to the 8 Series Coupe, with the same bonnet contouring, identical headlamp and grille and side ‘gills’ between the front wheel wells and the front doors. The key changes are, naturally, aft of the wing mirrors.

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The car in the patent image is not the top-tier M8 or even an M850i Gran Coupe – those shrunken bumper inlets indicate it’s likely a more pedestrian 840i grade, or lower. Even so, if BMW repeats the same strategy it employed with the soon-to-be-superseded 6 Series then M8 versions of both the 8 Series Gran Coupe and Convertible will eventually join the M8 Coupe that’s just around the corner.

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Speaking of drop-tops, the 8 Series Gran Coupe’s trademark filing was also accompanied by that of its roofless 8 Series Convertible sibling. As with the 6 Series Convertible it replaces, the 8 Series ‘vert will make use of a fabric soft top rather than a folding hard top, like that used by the 4 Series Convertible.

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Both will likely share the full range of powerplants that will eventually be offered by the 8 Series Coupe. So far the only confirmed engines are a 4.4-litre twin turbo V8 petrol with 390kW/750Nm in the M850i, along with a 3.0-litre twin-turbo diesel six with 235kW and 680Nm. Expect a turbo petrol inline six to join them, along with a higher-output 4.4 litre V8 (with potentially as much as 460kW) when the M8 eventually lobs in.