It’s beautiful, isn’t it? Although beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as the age-old adage goes, and there’s no real empirical way to determine objective beauty, we would argue BMW’s latest design study is a thing of absolute beauty. What’s more, it will go intro production. Meet the Concept Speedtop,a three-door Touring based on the 8 Series. Only 70 examples will be made.
The Concept Speedtop’s striking pronounced front facia is characterised by its ‘shark-nose’ design. The car’s illuminated kidney grille is flanked by tapered LED headlamps. The design study is fitted with a set of specially designed 14-spoke alloy wheels.
The design study’s oh-so sleek sheet metal wraps around a dual-tone, ‘Sundown Maroon’ and ‘Moonstone White’ (for the seats) leather-upholstered interior. While largely familiar to the 8 Series’, the Concept Speedtop’s cabin features several unique design elements to lend it an elevated aura of opulence. The interior detailing is especially exquisite, with the application of “skilfully crafted” brogue-style details accentuating the car’s leather-trimmed surfaces (even the luggage compartment is lined with hide, which features brogue-style perforations).
Spanning the Concept Speedtop’s two-tone headliner, a light beam, which mirrors the design study’s striking roof spline, adds to in-car ambience. A similar lighting item can be found in the boot.
As mentioned, BMW’s concept three-door wagon is based on the current-generation 8 Series. Though, to be more specific, it shares mechanical components, most notable of which its drivetrain, with the M8 Competition. This means the Concept Speedtop employs the most powerful non-electrified internal combustion engine (ICE) in the Bavarian brand’s arsenal: BMW’s renowned 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8, which, as a reminded, produces a healthy 460 kW and 750 N.m of twisting force.
The full complement of power and torque are sent to all four corners — via BMW’s eight-speed M Steptronic torque converter automatic transmission — as soon as the rev needle edges the 6 000 r/min and 1 800 r/min markers, respectively.
While the brand hasn’t announced performance figures for the Concept Skytop, considering its outputs, there is no doubt that it will be plenty quick in a straight line and fast. (As a reminded, the M8 Competition xDrive coupé completes the obligatory 0-100 km/h sprint in a claimed 3.2 seconds, before topping out at 305 km/h.)
