Our photographer recently spotted this Valencia Orange BMW in transport. The presence of the car cover likely means that it's not any model already revealed or in production. Question then is... what is it?
Our guess is that this is the upcoming 2 Series coupe (F22) or convertible (F23). We come to that conclusion by eliminating other models that it may reasonably be.
4 Series Coupe or 3 Series GT?
The F32 4 Series has been spied for nearly a year and a half now and although it will not start production until July, it's already been
spotted fully uncovered during a recent commercial shoot.
A comparison of the functional Air Breather vent on this car and on the 4 series coupe shows that they do not match in shape or design. The 4 Series vent has less of a boomerang angle and the vent covers have a different design.
The mystery car's Air Breather vent closely matches that of the 3 Series GT in shape and style. But, the orange car is missing the extra side body character line which runs parallel above the bottom character line on the 3 Series GT. It's also unlikely that we would see Valencia Orange on a model like the 3 Series GT and even if that were untrue, there's little reason to cover up a 3 Series GT since it's already been debuted publicly.
4 Series Air Breather:
3 Series GT Air Breather:
Mystery car (2 Series?) Air Breather:
2014 X5 (F15)?
Although
leaked images of the 2014 X5 confirm that it will have an Air Breather vent just as on the 4 Series and 3 Series GT, the shape does not match the one seen on the mystery car. Valencia Orange is also a highly unlikely color to be given to the X5, nor does the
preliminary X5 order guide show it as an available color.
5 Series LCI or 1 Series LCI?
Unlikely to be either model as the spied F10 5 Series LCI
prototypes have not shown to have added Air Breather vents. It's also too early for the F20 1 Series LCI, and when that arrives, also we don't anticipate the LCI model to incorporate such a significant body change.
2 Series Coupe or Convertible?
The Valencia Orange color already exists on the F20/F21 1 Series hatchback so it would make sense to see it on the 2 Series. Also, Valencia Orange has already been seen as a color on preproduction M235i's
VIN description.
Although 2 Series spy photos have not yet shown the Air Breather vent, the prototypes seen thus far still wear heavy camouflage on its front fenders. Early 4 Series and 3 Series GT prototypes also did not reveal their Air Breather vents through its camouflage.
All of the above leads us to believe that this may be the 2 Series coupe or convertible. Now, that was a lot of analysis and words on a single photo showing just a part of a mystery car, but we have pretty high hopes about the upcoming 2 Series, so to be possibly seeing a part of its final design (albeit small) is exciting.
With all this talk about Air Breather, what does it do exactly? The vent allows air to flow around the front wheels so as to reduce drag around the wheels. There is an intake vent within the wheel well which funnels air through and out the vent on front fenders.
P.S. The BMW 2 Series is about to do media preliminary work in Los Angeles, so all our SoCal folks should keep their cameras handy. Catch all our 2 Series coverage at
http://www.bimmerpost.com/2-series/
Bonus pics of M235i coupe recently spotted, as well as recent videos:
