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These are the latest spy pictures of the new 552bhp BMW M6 GranCoupe

These are the latest spy pictures of the new BMW M6 GranCoupe testing at the Nurburgring. The new high-performance version of BMW’s luxury new four-door swoopy saloon will give BMW a rival to the potent Mercedes CLS63 AMG.

Power for the new M6 GranCoupe will come from the twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 in the exact same specification as found in the new BMW M5. That means 552bhp and 501lb ft channeled to the rear wheels through a seven-speed dual clutch gearbox. The car should be good for 0-62mph in less than 4.5sec and a top speed limited to 155mph.

The M6 GranCoupe’s rival, the CLS63 AMG, uses a twin-turbo 5.5-litre V8. It has more power than the BMW’s latest charger with 518bhp, while torque is also slightly higher at 516lb ft.

The new M6 GranCoupe will essentially be a lower, even more focused version of the new M5. The roofline is lower than the M5 and the GranCoupe has a more slippery silhouette than its standard four-door sibling. A lower centre of gravity should also make it an even greater dynamic proposition than M’s staple saloon.

The spy pictures reveal a predictably muscular exterior for the GranCoupe. It gets the trademark M quad exhausts and large black twin five spoke alloys that hide what’s believed to be carbon ceramic brake discs.

The styling will also be much more aggressive than the handsome 6-series GranCoupe donor car, featuring the M body kit that includes a new front bumper, wider sills and a rear diffuser.

The new 6-series GranCoupe is still around four months away from its showroom debut. The M6 version is tipped to be launched in 2013. It will be beaten to market by the two-door M6, which will be revealed this year.

Mark Tisshaw

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Title: Editor

Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

From this position he oversees all of Autocar’s content across the print magazine, autocar.co.uk website, social media, video, and podcast channels, as well as our recent launch, Autocar Business. Mark regularly interviews the very top global executives in the automotive industry, telling their stories and holding them to account, meeting them at shows and events around the world.

Mark is a Car of the Year juror, a prestigious annual award that Autocar is one of the main sponsors of. He has made media appearances on the likes of the BBC, and contributed to titles including What Car?Move Electric and Pistonheads, and has written a column for The Sun.

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manicm 14 March 2012

Re: BMW M6 GranCoupe scooped

carnut - you're simply wrong on some counts. The main reason why the new 5/6 weigh heavier than previous models is because BMW deliberately ditched the major aluminium suspension bits that the older cars had.

Yes it may have saved them some pennies but at what larger cost? It's why almost all major journals have almost unanimously hailed the E63 AMG as a more agile car than the M5.

BMW screwed up here - when their previous V10 model weighs less than their new V8 one that is plain and clear. The truth hurts.

carnut 14 March 2012

Re: BMW M6 GranCoupe scooped

First of all

Overdrive wrote:
My point was that in developing the latest 3-series for production BMW managed to reduce the car's weight, model by model, compared to the pervious generation 3.

Not entirely true, the E46 was heavier that E36, E90 was slightly heavier than E49. However alot of that is due to more standard equipments and crash regulations.

Overdrive wrote:
Oh and, magically or not, it is perfectly possible to reduce a car's weight even after its development, as the likes of Gallardo Superleggera, F430 Scudria, 911 GT3 and indeed BMW's own M3 CLS have demonstrated before.

Gallardo Superleggera, F430 Scudria, 911 GT3 are special cars which are not mass produced, they cost more because of the amount of carbon fibre and light materials used to replace heavy parts in the standard car.


A 6 series is still a volume production car (i know its not same volume as a focus for example) but the fact still remains, the 6 is based on the 5 series architecture, which as you pointed out is heavy, they cant justify making the 6 series lighter than the 5 series because economies of scale.

so why the 5 series platform is heavy (in the first place)?
well i agree they could've made it lighter but it would've cost more money and remember the 5 series was launched in 2010 so it was developed 5 years prior to that (in consistence with BMW internal products system), so unless they make the entire car made out of aluminium/carbonfibre/composite (i.e. developing new tooling and bonding techniques) at the time of development the cost of making it lighter would've been too much and it would not have met its profit margin targets.

I see your point but at that time its wasnt possible for BMW to make the 5 series lighter, but the next generation will definitely be lighter and they have learned alot from the 3 series and carbonfibre techniques used in the i3 and i8.

I understand your point iam an engineer and love my cars to be as light as possible but reality of meeting business targets constrains engineers and that's is just a fact of life.

By the way even with the extra weight the 6 and 5 are still not heavier than competition and as i said before CO2 and MPG targets are better than competitors, which is where the industry is moving towards.

manicm 14 March 2012

Re: BMW M6 GranCoupe scooped

I woud call the 6 Gran Coupe anything but 'handsome' - compared to an A7 or CLS it looks like a stodgemobile. And I maintain the 6 coupe looks like and is a retired grandfather's car. It simply lacks the edge of the previous 6.