Business Day - Motor News

BMW shows bucktoothe­d GranCoupe i4 concept

- Phuti Mpyane

BMW is making good on the promise of pure electric drive with yet another concept. The i4 Gran Coupé is the latest peek into the premium brand’s look of the future and the company says it’ll go into production as early as 2021.

Looking at the concept’s form, it’s an affirmatio­n that BMW is going ahead with the large, bucktooth grille that took centre stage when the company unveiled the Concept 4 Series at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor show.

The Concept i4 BMW takes the model further by introducin­g the more practical, four-door and four-seater GranCoupe derivative of the swoopy coupe, and it also uses the interplay of specific colours such as a new frozen light copper hue on curved surfaces.

And the Concept i4 gets a blanked off version of that shocking grille due to it being pure electric. The grille serves as an intelligen­ce hub of sensors and other technology BMW is to reveal and that is reserved exclusivel­y for this model.

The company promises a driving range up to 600km, up to 395kW of power, a zero to 100km/h sprint in 4.0 seconds and a top speed above 200km/h from a new eDrive system.

And because coupes are not only purchased for their power and aesthetic panache, the Concept i4 also introduces a number of new design elements for the range. These include new curved displays that integrate all operating functions as part of minimising clutter in favour of smooth surfacing.

It’s what BMW calls a new expression of driver-focused design that intermingl­es with new and interestin­g ways to use luxury materials such as olive leaf tanned leather, microfibre­s and colour blends such as gold bronze, light blue and chrome, and an iDrive Controller and seat memory buttons finished in crystal glass that create a new interior ambience.

NEW CURVED DISPLAYS INTEGRATE ALL OPERATING FUNCTIONS AS PART OF MINIMISING CLUTTER

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