BMW CS – The new 8 series

BMW showed updated version of Concept CS at the International Auto Show in New York. First time at Shanghai BMW CS was in much more concept-like form. The new four door coupe from BMW, CS Concept is designed to tackle the Mercedes CLS, Porsche Panamera, and Maserati Quattroporte. BMW CS shows companies future design direction. The premiere of the Concept CS was after a report by German car magazine Auto Zeitung that claimed BMW will launch a four-door coupe with the well known 8-Series designation, starting with a new 850i.
The new BMW Concept CS is wider and longer than BMW 7 series sedan but on the other hand it is extremely low. With its dimensions of  200.8 inches long, 78 inches wide and only 53.5 inches high this car promises to be one of the best Grand Tourism cars ever made.
BMW’s latest concept – the CS sedan you see here – is a design exercise only. BMW unfortunately isn’t giving any details as to what kinds of mechanical bits may be lying underneath the CS’ sheetmetal – so we can’t even begin to guess how this thing performs. The only “performance-oriented” bit of info we do know is that the CS is rear-wheel drive and rides on 21-inch rims. Big surprise there, eh?

We’d be remiss if we didn’t throw in some form of the following sentence in an article about a concept, so here goes: the BMW CS is said to be a hint as to what the future of BMW design may be. There, that wasn’t so bad, was it? The designers from Deutschland are quick to point out the CS’s stretched-out kidney-shaped grille, its “revised” (read: “broken”) character line and low-slung shape. BMW is taking a page out of Mercedes’ CLS design/marketing books by saying that this saloon is like a “four-door coupe”. Expected “sporty” design traits including flared-out fenders, twin roof spoilers and a “power bulge” hood are all present and accounted for, though we do hope that the “eyelids” don’t make it to production. The CS’ headlights reek a little too much of “Hot Import Nights 1998″ for our tastes…

While the CS’ exterior is as polarizing as ever, the interior looks like it’s a damn nice place to be. BMW really wants the CS to feel like a sports coupe – for all occupants – so all four passengers are cocooned in bucket seats mounted as close to the floor as possible. According to BMW, the buckets in the back of the CS are as supportive and as adjustable as the passenger-side bucket seat. Sounds to us like the driver gets the best throne; appropriate for a driver’s car if you ask us.

We’ve driven quite a few modern Bimmers recently, and one thing that’s always impressed us about the cars is their clean and uncluttered dashes. The CS takes this “clean” design one step further with its flowing, almost naked dash. It certainly looks good, but the lack of buttons and knobs surely means that this car’s luxury features are likely controlled via BMW’s unloved iDrive system. We don’t see an information screen anywhere in these press photos, but that ceramic metal knob just south of the gear select lever tells us that it needs to twiddled a whole lot if one wants to do something as simple as turn on the heater in this saloon. It looks like BMW isn’t planning on ditching this driver-distracting control system anytime soon…

Given its large size and obvious sporting intentions, it would be easy to say that the BMW CS is a hint as to what the next-generation 7-series sedan may look like. However, if the buzz we’ve been reading on the internet is correct, saying such a thing would be totally wrong. The BMW CS is said to be a grand touring sedan designed to go head to head with higher-end vehicles like the Maserati Quattroporte, Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera.

No production plans for the CS are in the works just yet, but with cars like the Panamera confirmed for production, it’s only a matter of time before the CS gets the official green light.

Until then, check out our Media Page for more images of BMW’s grand touring super sedan.