THE BMW 8 SERIES Coupe is set to make a return and not just in concept form. It’s really going into production and should be with us as early as 2018. Hurrah!

At last week’s AGM, Chairman of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Harald Krüger, announced the arrival of a new concept car to be presented at this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este on 26 May 2017. This design study will provide an exclusive look ahead to the BMW 8 Series Coupe slated for 2018.

Krüger said:

The BMW 8 Series Coupe will build on our tradition of luxurious sports coupes and add a genuine dream car to our line-up – a slice of pure automotive fascination.

The original BMW 8 Series, which is now a modern classic, was first seen at the 1989 Frankfurt Motor Show and the big, luxury two-door coupe paid homage to the beautiful BMW coupes of the 1930s.

It was built for just ten years as an interim replacement for the 6 Series but this time round it will be bigger, faster and more luxurious than its sibling.

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BMW has been scant with the details, releasing only this one sketch of the concept – but we can make out a low, sleek roofline, muscular rear haunches and small boot-lid spoiler that flicks upwards. Obviously the original car’s cool flip-up headlights are no more – for shame – and the sketch seems to show the BMW ‘Angel Eyes’ lighting signature.

It’s also likely that the new 8 Series won’t be powered by a V12, as the majority of the original cars were, but it still should be among the fastest BMWs. As if that isn’t exciting enough, there have been spy shots of an M8 testing at Nurburgring.

The new BMW 8 Series will take on the likes of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Coupe, Audi R8 and Porsche 911.

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