BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe

…..”STRIKE THE POSE”

Sheer presence and dynamics………………

“This elaborate creation is a one-off design that captivates the observer at first glance with its Italian exclusivity and finesse.” As the result of an elite collaboration between BMW and Pininfarina Design Studios of Italy, The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso coupe was introduced.

It is the consummate blend of contemporary elegance, and is highly styled in the BMW fashion of luxury with exclusivity in its rarest form. It was unveiled at The Villa d’Este Concorso d’Eleganza May 24, 2013 in Italy. Its design is fluid, sculpted, forcing the eyes to sweep end to end. This exemplary example of automotive art is truly “seduction embodied as a vehicle.”

The Concorso d’Eleganza from the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este is the most significant of all events celebrating Historic Motor cars. This has been celebrated as early as 1929. Since its revival in the 1990’s the Concorso has improved, the beauty of the setting, hospitality, and efficiency in organization.

All of this excitement at the Grand Hotel Villa d’Este and Villa Erba are to increase the public awareness of the International Press and mainly to showcase the elegance, originality, and state of preservation of the precious automobiles participating in the event.

The focus is on design, originality and perfect preservation, and the spirit of bringing together the most important and beautiful cars from all over the world. The Hotel Villa d’Este located on beautiful Lake Como in Italy, welcomes guests to view the most beautiful cars in the world by category which celebrate History or Milestones.

BMW’s first collaboration with renowned Italian designer Pininfarina created this Luxury Grand Tourer. It is sheer elegance and exclusivity with the car’s exciting contrast of materials such as its 21” wheels made with matt-sheen aluminium with black and black chrome accents. A Twenty-first Century look augments its authoritative appearance.

The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso coupe is identified immediately by the BMW kidney-shaped grilles. Beautiful LED headlamps and lower valance air intake vents add a mysterious dramatic statement to the car’s front end styling, looks like it is from “The Jetsons.” I wonder if it can be folded into a briefcase as George Jetson’s did!

At the rear, the car’s jewel-like LED tail lamps with their open design allow air to circulate around them. The contemporary look created by the omission of “B” pillars and the use of frameless doors create an airiness adding extra light making the cabin appear larger.

Its long wheelbase and stretched bonnet with short overhang makes the car look longer. The smoothly sloping roofline enhanced with the BMW signature “Hofmeister Kink” which is the forward bend in the window C pillar, adds to the dramatic side profile.

The convex taperings make a dynamic presence….an understated elegance that only BMW could think of. In fact, BMW is always in pursuit of creative exchange with other design studios, which is another example of BMW’s restless quest for excellence and further development through partnership programs.

Italian finesse and German expertise make this a truly unique automobile like no other. The romantic Italian design and the iconic German engineering will make this car an instant collectible when it is produced….if it is produced. There are rumors that this is the raw version of the new 850i.

I love the mystery behind this car. No specifications other than the use of a V12 engine are released as of now. Per Fabio Filippini, Head of Design at Pininfarina; “The result of this cooperative venture is far greater than the sum of its parts.” “When two such tradition-rich experienced brands join forces to turn a vision into reality, something utterly new and exciting emerges. From start to finish, this project was defined by a mutual respect for the identity of the other company.”

And, from Adrian van Hooydonk, Sr. Vice President BMW Group Design; “The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso coupe has extraordinary impact. It expresses hallmark BMW values such as luxury and sheer presence in a highly elegant form.” “I admire the reductive clarity and precision in Pininfarina’s design. Their expectations for the end result have been just as high as ours, and their understanding of design perfectly compliments the BMW design DNA for a vehicle of this kind.”

Prehistoric trees buried and preserved in peat up to 50,000 years ago in New Zealand’s North Island produce the exotic Kauri Wood gracing the Gran Lusso’s cabin. Buried by unexplained acts of nature at the end of the last Ice Age, the wood has been preserved by being sealed in a chemically balanced environment. Some of the trees grew at least 2,000 years before being buried. The average girth of the trees is around 40 feet wide and over 200 feet high.

Extraction of these logs is time-consuming, expensive, and technically difficult requiring the skills of trained specialists in the operation of the heavy machinery in wet conditions to bring the logs carefully to the surface. Kauri wood is among the rarest timbers in the world, and being preserved in swamps, the wood can be processed like fresh timber after its retrieval.

The wood trim of the Cabin for the Gran Lusso comes from a single piece of wood. Kauri wood is known for its iridescence, the shimmering streaks are called ‘white bait’. This particular wood grain is named after schools of New Zealand white bait fish that emit a similar pattern swimming in one direction. The Gran Lusso’s wood cabin glows with iridescence in shades of gold to red to brown depending upon the angle it is viewed. This rare wood combined with the unique mystery of this car adds extra drama.

The Gran Lusso sports a leather clad cabin. Not just any old leather, this is Foglizzo leather which is the finest made Italian leather. Foglizzo is synonymous to bespoke and is available in numerous colors and different grains of customizable leather, specializing since 1921. Foglizzo is absolute perfection in the leather industry. BMW has always been an “absolute” haven’t they?

The BMW Pininfarina Gran Lusso Coupe is one of the world’s most beautifully designed cars for the 21^st Century. I wait with bated breath to see how this model evolves into production…..IF it evolves into production stage. This is ‘The Ultimate Concept Car” from “The Ultimate Driving Machine” with inspiration and direction from “The Ultimate design Studio…..Pininfarina of Italy.”

…..what more could the world ask for?

The Zagato Concept car that inspired the look of the Gran Lusso

The Gran Lusso Coupe is Notoriously Seductive…