Although few would debate the beauty of Mercedes-Benz’s CLS-class, the company’s classification of the car as a “four-door coupe†has drawn snickers and rolling eyes from many in the industry. If you thought the four-door coupe was a laughable idea, then prepare for a debilitating hernia. BMW is calling the X6 concept it unveiled in Frankfurt “the world’s first sports activity coupe.†Let the debate begin here.
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Never mind that coupes used to have two doors or used to be cars. Coupes are now all about the roofline. If the roof slopes, it must be a coupe. If a tree falls in the woods and lands on the back of a school bus, is the resulting wreckage a coupe?
Although the front end bears a strong resemblance to the X5 with which it shares a platform, closer examination reveals a more tightly puckered kidney-bean grille, squintier headlights, and larger air intakes carved into the front fascia—not to mention the more steeply raked windshield—for a more aggressive look than the upright X5.
BMW’s words on the X6’s engine are only that we “can rightly expect [it] to be particularly powerful.†To that cryptic statement we’d like to add the recent speculation about a possible V-10–powered X5 M. Notice that the front fascia of the X5 M recently captured by our spies is a dead wringer for the lower fascia of the concept X6. We would agree that the V-10’s 500 horsepower qualify as “particularly powerful.†Could it be? BMW isn’t talking, so we’ll have to wait to find out.
