Kidney-grille design has been taken to new extremes for BMW’s pending mid-size coupe.
Oh my, they can’t be serious…
Apparently they are. The BMW Concept 4 you see here is the brand’s surprise debut at the ongoing Frankfurt motor show.
While the side profile (with a windowline gently rising backward) and jagged rear end have some similarities with those on the existing 8 Series, it’s the front end that’s set to spark further controversy.
Apart from being elongated vertically like in the X5, X7 and facelifted 7 Series, the Concept 4 now joins the kidneys (perhaps beaver’s teeth) into one piece in a very large manner.
It contrasts considerably with the sleek head lamps which, together with that grille, is said to feature in the future i4 as well.
Make no mistake: Chris Bangle hasn’t returned to BMW. The Concept 4’s overall design, claimed to hark back to the 328 and 3.0 CSi, has been penned under the guidance of Adrian van Hooydonk.
Is it powered by hydrogen?
No technical details have been revealed for the Concept 4, although the production-ready 4 Series Coupe, Convertible and Gran Coupe are most likely to have engines mirroring those in the 3 Series relative, that is, petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid.
However, BMW has used the German motor show to showcase today’s X5 with a potential hydrogen fuel cell drivetrain thanks to an ongoing technical collaboration with Toyota.
While the 4 Series isn’t set to go all-electric in the short to mid-term, the i4 could be doing so with either battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell tech.
