BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé.

Consummate elegance.

Munich. At the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este 2013, two tradition-steeped car manufacturers – the BMW Group and Pininfarina – will be straddling the automotive past and future as they unveil the result of their debut cooperation to the global public on 24 May: the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé.

Together they have created the embodiment of sheer elegance. The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé is the sequel to a new approach introduced at last year's Concorso in the shape of the BMW Zagato Coupé. Always in search of opportunities for further development, the BMW Group consciously pursues creative exchange with other design studios. It enables two design approaches to merge into a new and exciting initiative that encourages fresh creative impulses. Thus the close collaboration with the Pininfarina design team has led to a new automotive personality brimming with character and ready to join the high-end luxury class: typically BMW and bearing the refined imprint of Pininfarina. The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé adds a new dimension to the BMW claim to elegance and exclusivity.

This elaborate creation is a one-off that captivates the observer at first glance with its Italian exclusivity and modern finesse. Generous surface design and taut contours highlight an elegant vehicle body, while hallmark BMW proportions – a long wheelbase, stretched bonnet, short overhangs and a set-back greenhouse with smoothly sloping roofline – imbue the BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupé with authoritative dynamics even before a wheel has been turned. Enhancing the powerful impact of the side profile are convex taperings that add a dynamic elegance. The exterior symbolises the modern harmony between power and elegance encapsulated by the V12 engine under the bonnet.

On the inside, the BMW Gran Lusso Coupé shows this consummate blend of contemporary elegance and luxury. Here the melding of exclusivity, comfort and sportiness makes for a unique interior experience. The fluid underlying geometry of the cabin and the classical BMW driver focus are lent a thoroughly new touch through the influence of Pininfarina.

In the world of automotive design, Pininfarina stands as one of the most influential and iconic names in the business. So what happens when you put designers from this legendary firm in the same room as their counterparts over at Bayrische Motoren Werke? You end up with an exclusively styled one-off in the form of the Gran Lusso Coupé.

View all The Gran Lusso Coupé, a first time collaborative effort of the two houses, was shown at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy this past Friday.

For those unfamiliar with Pininfarina, the design house was founded by Battista "Pinin” Farina in 1930’s Italy. Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and others have all been touched, and mostly blessed, by the Pininfarina design.

The Gran Lusso Coupé evokes basic BMW design aesthetics throughout, but thanks to Pininfarina the two-door exudes an Italian influenced persona. While clearly working off 6-series architecture, the Gran Lusso is wider and longer than its production brethren with long sweeping lines evident throughout, including a flaring hoodline that carries over and through into the windscreen. This singular detail then flows up and over a swept roofline and narrows down around the inset rear window and onto the shortened decklid.

The tail end of the Gran Lusso is also very much Pininfarina with its ultra slim, minimalistic tail bar that wraps around high on the rear end. The bumper treatment starts and finishes out back, unlike the 6 where it carries over from the rear haunches.

On profile, one of the more distinguishing elements is what BMW describes as a “countersweep.” This bevel emboss feature starts at the air breather behind the front wheel, then scallops its way aft where it tapers into the rear wheel well. This incongruous feature looks to come from either a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti or Mercedes SLS and in this context, it seems to detract from the cohesion of the overall design.

The interior is replete with a mixture of high grade Italian leathers from the house of Foglizzo. Wood insets are made from kauri, a beautifully grained timber harvested from New Zealand swamps where it has been preserved for nearly 50,000 years.

There are no performance, weight or engineering details except for the mention of a V12 residing under the lengthy bonnet.

Although there are no plans to produce the Gran Lusso Coupé, there is an expectation that some elements from the Pininfarina/BMW project will find their way into future designs.

Source: BMW