{"id":50202,"date":"2023-05-22T06:11:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50202"},"modified":"2023-05-22T06:11:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T10:11:16","slug":"bmw-touring-coupe-concept-talk-with-adrian-van-hooydonk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=50202","title":{"rendered":"BMW Touring Coupe Concept Talk with Adrian Van Hooydonk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By now, most enthusiasts have seen the incredible BMW Touring Coupe Concept<\/a> that debuted at Concorso d\u2019Eleganza Villa d\u2019Este in Italy. The man behind it is Adrian Van Hooydonk, the long standing BMW Group Head of Design. Chatting about the little, brown, modern interpretation of the clown shoe, he offered BMWBLOG plenty of insight.<\/p>\n

Where the Z4 Touring Coupe Concept Came From<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The BMW Touring Coupe Concept was a bit of a \u201cright car for the right time\u201d situation. BMW already had the underpinnings ready, and with so many visionary concepts already in the works, Van Hooydonk considered the crowd that attends Villa d\u2019Este. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want to use every platform, every meeting, to talk about the next ten years. We felt the crowd and public here completely understand cars, they understand car design, they just want their dream to continue.\u201d They thought \u2013 correctly, it seems \u2013 that this vehicle would accomplish that.<\/p>\n

When modifying the Z4\u2019s sheet metal to fit the new Touring Coupe profile, BMW partnered with the same Turin, Italy-based company that helped make the Garmisch concept<\/a> car recreation. \u201cWe knew that if anybody could do it \u2013 hand built, handcrafted, complicated shapes \u2013 and make it in time into a running prototype\u2026they were the ones,\u201d Van Hooydonk said. \u201cI didn\u2019t know if that was going to go over well, but it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Predictably, inspiration for the Z4 Touring Coupe Concept came mostly from the Z3 M Coupe. It was no contest when comparing prices (and enthusiast reception) between the \u201cbread van\u201d Z3 M Coupe and the fastback Z4 M Coupe. \u201cIt\u2019s that kind of maybe controversial look that made it into the classic that it is today,\u201d he says. \u201cOf course, we could have done a fastback coupe here as well. We thought about that. Very quickly. We decided on the bread fan or Shooting Brake architecture. We felt that would make it probably a bit more iconic.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think he\u2019s right about that. I can\u2019t imagine the internet falling quite as hard for a more standard coupe design.<\/p>\n

Feedback on the Concept<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cAt least two or three people said they want it\u2026one person sent me a [message] last week saying \u2018whatever it is, I\u2019ll take it,’\u201d Van Hooydonk responds. Positive feedback is everywhere for the Touring Coupe Concept, and Domagoj is noticing. \u201cIt seemed to fit, let\u2019s say, the location, the event, the type of car passionate people that are here,\u201d he said. We can\u2019t agree more \u2013 few cars fit in better at the Concours than the beautiful new Z4 concept.<\/p>\n

The Concept isn\u2019t exactly a recent development, according to Van Hooydonk. \u201cThis design is something that our California design studio came up with, actually, quite a while ago when we were doing the Z4.\u201d Apparently, this project is something that the team and Van Hooydonk himself were quite passionate about, even making a model version some time ago. After the Touring Coupe Concept became something closer to reality, they got to work making it a little bit more feasible for production.<\/p>\n

Touring Coupe Concept Production<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Van Hooydonk cites the current 3.0 CSL<\/a> as a bit of a benchmark for when \u2013 or if \u2013 the BMW Touring Coupe Concept sees the green light<\/a> for production. From the original Hommage car that debuted in 2015<\/a>, it took nearly eight years to actually get a similar vehicle in production. \u201cSo it took us a while, but at least we got it done. 50 units, 50 pieces, with this\u2026I don\u2019t know maybe we can do it a bit quicker,\u201d he says regarding the Z4. \u201cBut it depends also on the interest.\u201d Regarding volume, you can rest assured that the Z4 Touring Coupe will be highly exclusive. \u201cIt will always be a much lower volume than, let\u2019s say, a 3 Series or an X5. But I think it adds something or would add something to the brand.\u201d<\/p>\n

As far as concrete plans going forward with the BMW Touring Coupe Concept? Well, there\u2019s not much. \u201cIt is a one-off at the moment. But we\u2019ve made the agreement before we set sail for Lake Como that if there\u2019s enough interest, we will take a look at it. And that could be a very low volume version, like 50 cars.\u201d<\/p>\n

For America, anyway, that spells big markups \u2013 if the vehicle even comes here. So I guess we\u2019ll have to wait and see. Either way \u2013 it would be a shame if one of the prettiest modern BMWs never went into production. So cross your fingers and keep saying nice things about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By now, most enthusiasts have seen the incredible BMW Touring Coupe Concept that debuted at Concorso d\u2019Eleganza Villa d\u2019Este in Italy. The man behind it is Adrian Van Hooydonk, the long standing BMW Group Head of Design. Chatting about the little, brown, modern interpretation of the clown shoe, he offered BMWBLOG plenty of insight. Where […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/50203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}