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BMW 4 Series Gran Coupe spotted wearing minimal camo, M Sport pack

The new BMW 4 Series is essentially the coupe version of the latest 3 Series. So it would stand to reason that the four-door version of the 4 Series, in turn, would be the 3 Series - right? Well, yes and no.
Just as BMW offers both a 5 Series sedan and a four-door version of the 6 Series called the Gran Coupe, so, too, will its 4-Series family expand. So following the release of the new 4 Series Convertible, here we have the latest batch of spy shots showing the upcoming 4 Series Gran Coupe - which in turn should not be confused with the hunchbacked 3 Series Gran Turismo, which is more of a sporty wagon than a four-door coupe.
The nearly ready test vehicle pictured here is wearing only minimal camouflage to hide some last few details, but also appears to be wearing the M Sport package that will bridge the gap (at least, visually speaking) between the base models and the M4 Gran Coupe that is all but certain to follow.

2014 BMW 4 Series Convertible [w/video]

Here it is, the fifth generation of BMW's 3 Series Convertible - only this one begins with a "4," having been rechristened as a droptop version of the new 4 Series Coupe. With thirty years of work on this same recipe and having gotten it so right for much of that time, the Munich compact premium convertible has been a WYSIWYG affair for decades: once you saw its sedan paradigm, you knew what it was going to look like in roofless two-door form, and what you saw is exactly what you got.
It is ridiculous to think that BMW would choose this new model and its new nomenclature to muck things up. The new car has, though, gotten larger and roomier, and even though it's now part of the racier coupe division within the company's compact line, it has gotten more, shall we say, mature. Driving even further away from the days when handsomely tipped bartenders could work their way into one, The Ultimate Tanning Machine had shed even more elan, going instead for elegance and an attitude befitting its $49,675 starting price (including $925 for destination).
It strikes a few odd notes, but what it does best, it still does better than anything else out there in its price range.

BMW says SUVs killed the sports car market

In many ways, we're living in a golden age of automotive performance. After all, it's possible to show up at a Dodge dealer, hand over about $60,000 and storm away with a 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat. Or for those who prefer a touch more luxury, the BMW M4, Mercedes-AMG C63 and latest Cadillac ATS-V offer between 425 and 503 horsepower, depending on your pick, with a bit more poshness. However, none of these powerful vehicles fit the classic definition of a two-place, droptop sports car, and according BMW head of sales Ian Robertson, that's because the segment is very much in the doldrums.
According to Robertson, two factors seriously wounded the classic sports car market. First, the global economic crisis of a few years ago put a serious hurt on sales, according to Bloomberg. Further worsening the situation, the boom in popularity of luxury SUVs and crossovers in the past few years hasn't allowed for much recovery. Even car-hungry China hasn't helped much because of the smog in many cities and preference among some of the very rich there to be chauffeured.
Combined, Audi TT, BMW Z4 and Mercedes-Benz SLK sales peaked around 114,000 units a year in 2007, but they are only expected to reach 72,000 annually by the end of the decade. Robertson is pretty pessimistic about the market's comeback too. "Post-2008, it just collapsed. I'm not so sure it'll ever fully recover," he said to Bloomberg.