A sneak peak at the BMW Concept 8 Series !

BMW has brought its one and only 8 Series Concept car to our shores in Kuala Lumpur. The car was showcased at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and will be there until the 7th March. BMW offered a tour of the car and even allowed us to go up close with the car, no touching the car of course. We took this opportunity to visually grasp the car’s aesthetics, get up close and explore the car’s details all-around.

Before we start, we’d like to thank BMW for the opportunity to allow us to view the stunning 8 Series Concept in person, and for entertaining us. We’d also like to commend BMW’s excellent customer service for being remarkably helpful and responsive whenever we needed assistance.

Let us first review the car’s looks. Aesthetically, the 8 Series looks absolutely stunning from all angles. The car is undoubtedly unique and distinct compared to other BMWs. With its unique and visually-striking design, it certainly adds a new character to the BMW model lineup.

The car is finished in the stunning Barcelona Grey Liquid paint. At the front, the car has an extremely sharp and sporty design. It features the trademark BMW kidney grille, which widens as it extends downwards. The grille fitted on the 8 Series is the lowest positioned kidney grille in BMW’s history to a point where it looks a little bit hunched. And for the first time, the 2 grilles are conjoined together to form an unbroken frame.

There are two large air-intakes on each side of the front-end. The air going through the front-air intakes will flow through the front wheel arches and exit through the air breather vents located behind the front wheels. This is to create more downforce and better aerodynamics.

The super-slim laser headlights of the car is undoubtedly the most eye-catching part of the front design. It features BMW’s wicked laser light technology which saves a lot of internal mechanical space because the laser diodes used in the 8 Series are 10 times smaller than conventional light diodes. Besides that, the size of the reflector surface is also 90% smaller than a conventional LED light structure. With smaller mechanical parts for the lights, BMW is able to free up a lot of installation space inside the headlamp as well as weight! Electric usage is decreased by 30% too.

Moving onto the side of the car, the lines follow through from the air-vents all the way to the rear arches. The door windows are frameless. The 21-inch wheels finished in light-alloy, gives the car a more compelling appearance. The car also currently has no door-handles and is opened using a sensor, which will most likely be gone when the car is in production.

At the rear, the car’s roofline descants smoothly creating a sleek coupe look. The rear design is defined by volumes and lines. The trunk of the car has a slightly raised spoiler, which flows sharply inwards right above the BMW logo.

Another thing to notice is the very unique tail lights. Its slim tail lights extend onto the sides of the car, which form L-shaped blades and projects out from the rear. The tail lights are also completely exposed, with no glass protecting it.

The interior is just remarkable. Visually, the interior comes with a new simplistic dashboard which includes a new generation of iDrive system as well as a new speedometer design. The speed and the rev counter are now positioned vertically to give a more futuristic look to it. The centre part of the centre console sports a carbon-fibre storage compartment with the 8 series emblem displayed on top of it. The control cluster features minimal buttons and knobs, giving the interior a very clean look.

The iDrive selector as well as the gear knob are made out of crystals which accentuates the level of opulence in the car. The slim Merino leather sports seats are supported by light weight carbon shell structures which are nicely contoured to snug the driver into the seats.

The steering wheel is sporty and is finished with aluminium spokes as well as red paddle shifters similar to the current generation BMW M5. The red paddle shifters and decorative stitching are evocative of a racetrack in which BMW claimed is embedded in the DNA of the sports coupé.

The 8-series will most probably share its powertrain with the 7 Series starting off with a 3.0-litre inline-six cylinder engine that produces 326HP and 450NM of torque all the way to the 6.6-litre V12 engine that pumps out 600HP and 800NM of torque. A performance variant which is called the M8 will be coming soon. It will be powered by a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 producing 600 HP and 750 NM of torque.

For more information on the BMW 8 Series Concept, click the link here.

BMW teased us with the M8 GTE race car not loo long ago.