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BMW reveals new seven-seat 2 Series Gran Tourer [w/video]

Everything is turning up Gran over at BMW these days. The 4 Series and 6 Series sprout extra doors to become Gran Coupes. The 3 Series and 5 Series get weird rooflines to become Gran Turismos. And now the 2 Series Active Tourer has grown an extra row of seats to become the Gran Tourer. What we're looking at is essentially the same mini-minivan/tall-hatchback that emerged almost exactly a year ago as the first front-drive model in BMW's history. Only in the guise of the new 2 Series Gran Tourer, it's been stretched to accommodate that third row of seats to give it seven-seat capacity – which was to be expected, of course, but is still fairly impressive considering how compact this vehicle actually is. It may be less than ten inches longer than the five-seat Active Tourer, but it's still smaller than just about any seven-seater on the market, and to hear the Bavarians tell it, it's "the world's first premium compact model to offer up to seven seats." Those seats are optional and can fold under the floor, and the middle row splits 40:20:40 and folds flat at the push of a button to give the 2 Series Gran Tourer a flexible cargo capacity ranging from 22.7 cubic feet all the way up to 67 cu ft. All of that in a vehicle no longer than a Ford Focus, which even in European wagon form can only swallow 53 cu ft with the seats folded – and you can forget about the extra seats in the Focus. European buyers will be able to choose between five engine options with three or four cylinders and ranging from 116 horsepower to 192. Available all-wheel drive might make you forget it's riding on a front-drive platform altogether (but not likely). Either way, the five-seat Active Tourer hasn't found its way to US showrooms, so we won't expect to see this new seven-seat version here either. At least not for the time being. But we'll surely have the chance to check it out in person for you next month at the Geneva Motor Show. The new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. 11.02.2015 With the new BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer, BMW has carved out yet another new vehicle segment. With its generous space, versatility and groundbreaking flexibility, the BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer is the world's first premium compact model to offer up to seven seats and fully meet the mobility requirements of young families. Compact yet capacious.

2015 BMW i8 Prototype

M Meets Edison
The real telling moment for the new BMW i division will be seeing how the recently tested 2014 i3 sells in its various markets, since that is the car that changes how we perceive our expectations of the brand. But this 2015 BMW i8 green supercar has all the earmarks of a slam-dunk project, we just needed to drive it and make sure for ourselves.
BMW has a spectacular test facility in southern France, called Miramas, and that's where we just had our first brief go behind the wheel of the i8. There were three cars for us there and they were dressed up in exactly the same paisley camo that we've all seen in the spy photos published everywhere for the past year. The interiors, though swathed in masking to hide all the details, varied in their color.

2014 BMW 4 Series Coupe images leak out

Because embargoes were apparently made to be broken, images of the 2014 BMW 4 Series coupe have leaked onto the Internet ahead of the car's official debut thanks to Car Design News' Facebook page. As you'll recall, the 4 Series is the replacement for the outgoing 3 Series coupe, its nomenclature falling in line with the rest of BMW's lineup, where coupes and convertibles will be set apart from their sedan counterparts by one number.
As we can see in the photos, the 4 Series takes a lot of its design cues from the 3 Series on which it is based, but there's a lot more in the way of attractive body sculpting, and this production model stays true to the original 4 Series Coupe Concept that we saw at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year.
We don't have official details to divulge just yet, but we can discern from the photos that the range-topping coupe will be the 435i model, likely powered by BMW's turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six from the 335i. There will no doubt be a 428i model with a 2.0-liter turbo-four underhood, and we expect BMW to offer its xDrive all-wheel-drive system on both models. Much like the 3 Series, a variety of trim levels will be on offer, including a top-spec M Sport trim that you can see painted in Estoril Blue here.