Xenatec Shows Off its "Dream Cars": Bentley SUV, BMW 6-Series Sedan and More

Now that their limited production Maybach 57S Coupe (see here) has made the rounds, here are some of the other proposals from Xenatec. Since the company's specialty is chassis modification (and the necessary body work thereafter), they've got some ideas for a lengthened (and shortened) "dream cars".

Have a look at the gallery below and see what tickles your fancy. The SUV limos are a bit much, but the rag-top conversions don't look too bad (especially the CLS and 300).

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VIDEO: BMW Concept Gran Coupé Presentation from Beijing

BMW held a special private reception on the evening of the first press day at the Beijing Motor Show to unveil its all-new Concept Gran Coupé as well as the long wheelbase versions of the 5 Series, specially developed for the Chinese market, and this here video includes scenes from that event.

Most of you will probably be interested only in BMW's conceptual answer to Merc's CLS sports saloon, so in the video after the jump, fast forward to the 1:25 minute mark for the part with the Gran Coupé.

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2011 BMW 6-Series Coupe Chopped from New Gran Coupe Concept

Here's a chop from the folks over at 'e90post' of what a potential new BMW 6-Series could look like (i.e. good).

Using more ellipsoid headlights, losing the RS5 nose, and cutting off two doors are a few details that make this photo-shopped 6 infinitely prettier than BMW's recent (as in today) debut at the 2010 Beijing motorshow: the Gran Coupe.

All this chop would have needed to appear just-right would have been the Gran Coupe's slick mirrors.

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BMW Concept Gran Coupe: Beijing Show Debut for Mercedes CLS and Porsche Panamera Rival

The BMW Group took us by surprise today with the world premiere of the Concept Gran Coupe. The Bavarian automaker calls it a four-door coupe which is fancy marketing talk for a saloon with sportier body proportions.

The car looks extremely production ready and it could very well enter the market within a year or two offering BMW a competitor the Porsche Panamera, the next Mercedes-Benz CLS and the upcoming Audi A7, possibly with the 8-Series badge on the boot.

The five-meter long Gran Coupé, which is a follow up to BMW's much more aggressive and unique 2007 Concept CS, comes with a very low body height of just under 1,400mm making it up to 100mm flatter than the 5 Series or the 7 Series sedans.

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BMW Celebrates 25 Years of Technik with a Super-Gallery of Funk

BMW Technik GmbH (currently BMW Forschung und Technik, or Research and Technology) is celebrating 25 years of concepts, innovation, design, and technology. The people employed in the division are responsible for some of the zaniest concepts to ever come from beneath the Roundel.

The subsidiary company was founded as BMW Technik GmbH in 1985. In the early years, the division's main focus of activities was defined as "the development and construction of concept vehicles".

These include the 1988 Z1 Coupe that was based on BMW Technik's very first project, the limited production Z1 roadster.

However, in 2003, the Bavarian automaker rebranded the division as "BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH", shifting focus to developing technology that encompassed all types of BMW vehicles.

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Efficient Dynamics, Meet Pod Racer: BMW Sequence GT Concept

The BMW Sequence GT is the brainchild of Seungmo Lim, a graduate student at Pforzheim University in Germany.

Lim explains that the "Electric Gran Turismo Sequence" project started out with two questions: 1) "How important is the appearance of green cars?", and 2) "What is 'Efficient dynamics'?"

"In other words these two questions mean, 'What kind of qualification does a blue or green car have to have in order to get a BMW badge in the future?'"

I've got no idea, so it's good that he came up with an answer: Combining "driving pleasure with blue architecture."

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