At the beginning of this month, the first few M8 Gran Coupés of the main production series rolled off the line at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing. Among the most technologically capable of BMW’s production facilities, Dingolfing’s primary focus is building upmarket BMW models, like the 7 Series and M5. The plant has carried out five successful model launches this year alone, cementing its place as an integral component of the global BMW manufacturing network, and this most recent one may have been the most important.
The M8 Gran Coupé completes the rollout of the 8 Series model range, and the stylish yet imposing four-door is expected to be the most popular M8 variant. Current production schedules at BMW Group Plant Dingolfing are planning to allot 40% of M8 manufacturing capacity exclusively to the Gran Coupé, with the remaining 60% divided among the coupe and convertible, with the former likely to be the most popular two-door variant. Plans are also said to list daily M8 output at 60 units per day.
As we noted when the M8 Gran Coupé was officially announced last month, the luxury performance thoroughbred will likely be the fastest four-door BMW one can buy. This is largely owed to manufacturer zero-to-60 acceleration times of 3.1 and 3.0 seconds for the standard and Competition models respectively, which puts them a tenth of a second ahead of their M5 counterparts. We’ve already waxed poetic on this website about how the M5 is both faster and more powerful than advertised, and the S63 M V8 engine used in the M8 is the same unit, available in either 600- or 617-horsepower trim, motivating 4,370 pounds—110 fewer than the M5.
Among the initial units planned for production are 400 M8 Gran Coupe First Editions. We briefly mentioned the details of this commemorative special when the M8 was unveiled in October, but no actual photos of the real car seem to have surfaced. Details remain nonetheless interesting though, with BMW Individual Diamant Green Metallic paint as the exclusive finish, and LED headlights equipped with a special filament to emit yellow light, both of which come together to show just how close the production M8 is to the concept.
We can’t wait to see how all variants of the M8 perform in the real world, but in a reality where buyers at nearly every level seem to demand functionality and utility in every conceivable shape, BMW’s new range-topping Gran Coupé has our attention.—Alex Tock
[Photos courtesy BMW AG.]
