BMW shows off M8 Gran Coupe concept at Pebble Beach

Atop the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegane awards ramp and with a backdrop of Stillwater Cove in Pebble Beach, BMW pulled the cover off the M8 Gran Coupe concept to reveal a burly-yet-taut athletic sedan posing quite nicely as a coupe. Although this car was shown in March at the Geneva Motor Show, this viewing marked the first time we’d seen the car first hand. Aimed at the sporty coupe-like four-door market that includes the Audi A7, Porsche Panamera, and upcoming Mercedes-AMG GT four-door, the M8 concept seems more than up to the task of competing with the trio on style, and it seems production-ready.

In fact, there are only a few concept-like details that may not make it to production, including the bronze trim, ducktail rear decklid, and a beautiful custom paint that shiftsva slate blue to emerald green depending on the viewer’s perspective. As good as the color combo looks, we’d hope that the trim and perhaps a similar dark green makes it onto BMW dealership lots, perhaps with a brown interior? We can dream, can’t we? Oh, and we’ll take the decklid as-is.

The M8 will likely use the same 600-horsepower twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 as the M5. Other powertrains for the 8 Series Gran Coupe will be shared with the 8 Series Coupe, including the 456-hp version of the aforementioned twin-turbo V-8 used in the M850i, while the entry-level car will almost certainly be dubbed the 840i and use a turbo 3.0-liter inline six with 335 horsepower.

When parked next to the production 8 Series coupe, the concept’s headlights blend into the fenders with slightly sharper transitions, but the family resemblance is strong. BMW pointed out that it debuted a concept at Monterey Car Week 2017 that turned into the Z4 with few changes, so don’t be too surprised if the German automaker follows suit and shows the production model 8-Series Gran Coupe within the year.