BMW Concept M4 GTS unveiled at Pebble Beach
[Not a valid template]And just when the BMW nuts amongst us thought the M4 Coupe was the tip of the cat’s whiskers…
The above (and below if you’ve already skipped to the teaser video) is the Concept M4 GTS, a high performance variant of BMW’s performance coupe.
The latest in a line of special edition ‘M3 Coupes’ – which dates back to the BMW M3 Evolution of 1988 – the new Concept M4 GTS made its debut at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours and is powered by the same 3-litre twin-turbo six-cylinder found in the M4, albeit with water-injected turbochargers. Although official performance figures have yet to be revealed, M division engineers suggest the new turbochargers bring with them an eight percent increase in performance over the road-going 425bhp M4, suggesting power will be in the 460bhp region.
It’s the aesthetics though that have lassoed the headlines, the gritty looks reminiscent of the previous M3 special edition – the BMW M3 CRT – that debuted in 2011. Key amongst the aerodynamic hardware are an adjustable front splitter, a mounted rear spoiler, and OLED tail-lights, all of which are set to make their way onto a limited edition production version of M4 GTS in 2016, the current concept cited only as a showcase for performance-enhancing technologies by BMW.
Finished in an evil-looking Frozen Dark Grey metallic paint, the concept also gets a carbon fibre-reinforced bonnet to lower both the overall weight and the centre of gravity, and is finished off with some cheeky looking forged alloys, 9.5 Jx19in at the front and 10.5Jx20in at the rear. These are shod with 265/35 R19 and 285/30 R20 Michelin Sport Cup 2 performance rubber respectively.
When the production M4 GTS breaks cover next year, it will join the BMW M3 Evolution (1988), BMW M3 Sport Evolution (1990), BMW M3 GT (1995), BMW M3 CSL (2003), BMW M3 GTS (2010) and BMW M3 CRT (2011) as the latest ‘M3 Coupe’ limited edition model.
