Is anyone surprised we havent seen anything on the coupe?

I mean basically the E90 is out, you can order one they are getting brochures together you will see them on the road in the next few months.

I am surprised I havent seen and REAL pics of what the coupe will look like. They cant be far behind, figuring that they come out the end of this year or beginning of next. We saw tons of spy shots of the sedan and even the leaked brochure way before it was supposed to come out.

That leak from last summer was a real PR problem for BMW. They we not happy about it. Traditionally, for the 3 Series, sedans first and then in a year or so, coupes and convertibles. Then the M version. Before they're in the showroom, they are on view at an auto show. Before that, final select pics are released to the press. Before that pics are "leaked". And before that, you get the independant spy shots on test tracks and streets. There are some spy shots out there of mock-up coupes and convertibles and that is the stage we are in right now. In a couple of months we will see some unofficial "final" stage pictures. Should the E 90 Cabrio have a metal folding top, as rumored, they will really want to keep that detail hidden to the very last minute - it keeps the competition guessing and it builds up buying excitement and momentum. If you want a good sense of how BMW moves a new vehicle through the pipeline from first sketch to dealer's floor, take a look at a book that came out recently called "Z4 Design" or something like that. It's available at BMW dealers.

Originally Posted by Moto Trex

That leak from last summer was a real PR problem for BMW. They we not happy about it. Traditionally, for the 3 Series, sedans first and then in a year or so, coupes and convertibles. Then the M version. Before they're in the showroom, they are on view at an auto show. Before that, final select pics are released to the press. Before that pics are "leaked". And before that, you get the independant spy shots on test tracks and streets. There are some spy shots out there of mock-up coupes and convertibles and that is the stage we are in right now. In a couple of months we will see some unofficial "final" stage pictures. Should the E 90 Cabrio have a metal folding top, as rumored, they will really want to keep that detail hidden to the very last minute - it keeps the competition guessing and it builds up buying excitement and momentum. If you want a good sense of how BMW moves a new vehicle through the pipeline from first sketch to dealer's floor, take a look at a book that came out recently called "Z4 Design" or something like that. It's available at BMW dealers.

Yea I know the progression, but since the E90 is officially released now, I seem to remember seeing pics of the E46 coupe in close to final form very close to the time the sedan hit the streets. The mockups I have seen are the same ones that have been floating around for over a year now, not ones that are even close to recent.

We'll see more coupe/vert photos with an increasing frequency towards the end of this summer. AFAIK, the mechanical and electronic setup is being developed and tested at the moment, but the body form have already been completed. We just don't get to see it yet.

The latest BMW CAR magazine (UK) has a couple new spy pics of the coupe

Originally Posted by Moto Trex

That leak from last summer was a real PR problem for BMW. They we not happy about it. Traditionally, for the 3 Series, sedans first and then in a year or so, coupes and convertibles. Then the M version. Before they're in the showroom, they are on view at an auto show. Before that, final select pics are released to the press. Before that pics are "leaked". And before that, you get the independant spy shots on test tracks and streets. There are some spy shots out there of mock-up coupes and convertibles and that is the stage we are in right now. In a couple of months we will see some unofficial "final" stage pictures. Should the E 90 Cabrio have a metal folding top, as rumored, they will really want to keep that detail hidden to the very last minute - it keeps the competition guessing and it builds up buying excitement and momentum. If you want a good sense of how BMW moves a new vehicle through the pipeline from first sketch to dealer's floor, take a look at a book that came out recently called "Z4 Design" or something like that. It's available at BMW dealers.

That "leak" was actually not a leak. It was designed to look like that, but BMW actually did that on purpose to take some of the spotlight from the new Audi A4.

And why would BMW want to put out info on the new coupe, when 90% of the market doesn't know about the new sedan yet. Why take away the spotlight on the sedan, it hasn't even made it's world debut yet.

Originally Posted by 330Cane

That "leak" was actually not a leak. It was designed to look like that, but BMW actually did that on purpose to take some of the spotlight from the new Audi A4.

And why would BMW want to put out info on the new coupe, when 90% of the market doesn't know about the new sedan yet. Why take away the spotlight on the sedan, it hasn't even made it's world debut yet.

Not saying putting out anything finalized, just usually there are More spy shots by now since the sedan is released, once you see first drives in edmunds and C&D and autoweek the car is out.

I KNOW I saw at least more artist renderings and spy shots of the E46 coupe right around the time the sedan came out.

Not saying there is anything wrong with that, just I am curious it seems more hushed then usual to me.

Originally Posted by Staszek

Not saying there is anything wrong with that, just I am curious it seems more hushed then usual to me.

No. Pretty normal actually. We have seen about as much of the coupe as we had the sedan this time last year.

Originally Posted by 330Cane

No. Pretty normal actually. We have seen about as much of the coupe as we had the sedan this time last year.

I havent seen anything of the coupe except those shots from over a year ago.

I think you must have missed this thread :

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85384

Scroll down to the middle of the first page. Those photos are new.

Originally Posted by Alex Baumann

I think you must have missed this thread :

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85384

Scroll down to the middle of the first page. Those photos are new.

YES!! I did miss that thread saw the ones at the beginning just not the ones at the end. thanks!

From what I understand starting in 06' the coupes will now be even numbered making the 3 series coupe a 4 series. All sedans will be odd numbered and all coupes will be even numbered in series. Looks like we might have seen the last of the "C" notation on the trunks.

Originally Posted by Techsan

From what I understand starting in 06' the coupes will now be even numbered making the 3 series coupe a 4 series. All sedans will be odd numbered and all coupes will be even numbered in series. Looks like we might have seen the last of the "C" notation on the trunks.

Welcome to last year.

Originally Posted by Techsan

From what I understand starting in 06' the coupes will now be even numbered making the 3 series coupe a 4 series. All sedans will be odd numbered and all coupes will be even numbered in series. Looks like we might have seen the last of the "C" notation on the trunks.

That was in discussion a while ago at BMW but has been dismissed. The new Coupe/convertible and M will be "3"´s not "4"´s

Marketing an additional line "4" would be to costly and the styling would have to be to different (see 5 and 6, the 6 shares no visible cues with the 5)

I don't remember seeing a fully undisguised E46 Coupe until January of 1999, about 3 months before its Euro intro & 6 months before the U.S. I think we still have some time left.

Originally Posted by Techsan

From what I understand starting in 06' the coupes will now be even numbered making the 3 series coupe a 4 series. All sedans will be odd numbered and all coupes will be even numbered in series. Looks like we might have seen the last of the "C" notation on the trunks.

The '4' rumour has already been quashed, as mentioned. I never understood the 'C' badging thing - I can tell it's a coupe, I can count the number of doors - so personally I wouldn't be surprised if BMW ditched it again.

On another note the 'i' is similarly superfluous - BMW doesn't make any cars at all whose engined *aren't* injected with some kind of fuel - but they do serve a purpose in identifying a car whose engine is fed with petrol, as opposed to diesel, liquid petroleum gas or indeed hydrogen.

Thanks for setting me straight. I guess I'm still a little confused as to why we would hope to see the new 3 series coupe when we havent yet seen the 5 series coupe and that model has been on the road for a while.

Originally Posted by Techsan

Thanks for setting me straight. I guess I'm still a little confused as to why we would hope to see the new 3 series coupe when we havent yet seen the 5 series coupe and that model has been on the road for a while.

There is no 5 series coupe, unless you count the 645. Don't know what else you'd be thinking about.

Originally Posted by 330Cane

There is no 5 series coupe, unless you count the 645. Don't know what else you'd be thinking about.

Here's a supposedly real picture of the coupe convertable

Originally Posted by defex

Here's a supposedly real picture of the coupe convertable

Well, that picture referenecs a 3 Series cabrio. So, still not sure what 5 Series coupe he's talking about. Besides, I'd be willing to bet (a lot) that pictuer is a CGI.

Originally Posted by 330Cane

Well, that picture referenecs a 3 Series cabrio. So, still not sure what 5 Series coupe he's talking about. Besides, I'd be willing to bet (a lot) that pictuer is a CGI.

The photo appears as if it was scanned from some sort of brochure.. but I guess the possiblity of it being fake always exhists..

Originally Posted by defex

The photo appears as if it was scanned from some sort of brochure.. but I guess the possiblity of it being fake always exhists..

That picture is pretty old its been out for a while its not scanned from a brochure its scanned from a magazine.

That being said, if that is the Vert I want one!