BMW has released details of its CS Concept ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show – could this signal the return of the 8 Series?
It appears the success of such sporty premium four-door cars as the Mercedes-Benz CLS and Maserati Quattroporte has woken BMW up to the fact that it currently has no such offering in its model line up.
In what may be a move to remedy the situation, the Bavarian marque has revealed details of its imposing CS Concept in the lead up to the Shanghai Auto Show. At present there is no concrete evidence to suggest that the CS will be primed for manufacture, but there are suggestions that this car could indicate the direction of the company’s future design language or even act as a preview to a rumored flagship model that could be a spiritual successor to the ahead-of-its-time 8 Series.
It certainly is an imposing vehicle, with high-mounted headlamps tapering nose section and an aggressive, gaping restyle of those signature twin kidney grilles, the front of the CS puts one in mind of a larger, more aggressive take on the short-lived Z8 – or even the Maserati Quattroporte, against which it could theoretically compete. Other styling features, such as flared wheel arches housing 21-inch alloy wheels and a squat, muscular rear add to the aggressive appearance of the car, somewhat at odds with other models that the CS could potentially compete with, such as the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide.
The 5,1 metre CS Concept is said to share its platform with the next-generation 7 Series and could be powered by a 6,0-litre V12 derive from the 5,0-litre V10 unit currently doing service in the M5 and M6.
In a bid to compete with Mercedes’ CLS, BMW is also expected to add another four-door coupé that will sit above the 5 Series. The launch of such a model would probably coincide with that of the next generation CLS by the end of the decade.
Another model that BMW could potentially offer in the near future is a high-performance version of the 1 Series coupe. A report in Germany’s magazine suggests that such a model would be powered by the 252 kW straight-six engine currently featured in the Z4 Coupé, resulting in a 0-100 km/h time of 5,2 seconds.
The report also makes a tentative suggestion that the car will be dubbed the M1, although such a name would sit at odds with the mid-engined supercar of the late 1970’s that first bore the M1 sticker.
