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4 Series? That's right, BMW is splitting the 3 series line up. The the sedan and touring will remaining the venerable "3 Series" while the coupe and convertible are standing on their own as the new "4 Series". The change aligns BMW's smaller 3 series sedan and 4 series coupe with its bigger brothers the 5 series and 6 series. It also matches BMW's products better to Audi's A4 sedan and A5 coupe.
Like it or not the change is coming and we've got pictures of the 2014 4 series 440i. Powered by the 6 cylinder N55 engine you can purchase today in the 2013 335i, the 2 door coupe will get a power bump from 300hp to 315hp or 320hp in the 440i. The basis for this power increase for the coupe over the sedan? The 4 series switch allows BMW to move the 4 series coupe up market, and up market cars get more power in BMW's line up. They've done this with the 535i and 640i and will continue the trend with the 335i and 440i.
These BMW spy pictures don't show much of the final design but we can get a good sense of the proportions of the new coupe. The front retains the short overhang of the E46 and E92 coupe. While the headlights are test mule place holders BMW execs have told us the F32 4 series coupe will share the same wide headlights of the F30 3 Series that wrap from the fender to the center kidney grills. Expect the kidney grills to be wider then the F30 and more aggressively styled then the round and soft F30 sedan grills. As with the F30 sedan the number of vertical slats in the grills will vary depending on the equipment 'line' you get.
The F32 4 series coupe will be sold with equipment 'lines' similar to the from the F30 3 series sedan. The lines will consist of modern, luxury and sport, with an an M sport option that isn't likely to be ready right at launch in the summer of 2013.
Out back the 440i gets the now standard for BMW, single pipe on the left and right side, signifying this is the big motor N55 coupe. The 428i will be powered by the 4 cylinder turbo N20 found in the 328i and will have a left side dual exhaust. The trunk hangs over the back of the rear wheels a good amount, meaning this coupe will have a lot of functional trunk space, even as a F33 convertible model. I especially like how the trunk lid flows up into the rear window, when we finally get to see the F32 4 series coupe it is going to be a stunner!
Who's waiting for the summer 2013 4 series coupe launch? What do you think of the 4 series naming? Will it keep you from getting the all new BMW coupe?
