M4 Concept (Germany, 2013)

The M4 Concept was unveiled at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

The car is purely a design concept, and BMW is not saying anything about the car’s powertrain. The entire concept is painted in an exclusive color that BMW calls Aurum Dust, which is a smoky metallic gold. Like it or hate it, the car underneath is incredibly cool.

The most obvious feature of the front is the big power dome on the hood. The M4 might be dropping the V8 for the next generation, but it will still look like its ready for a fight. Elsewhere at the front, the car basically follows the usual M design of enlarging the air intakes and making it look more aggressive. The kidney grill gets double slats, and the lower air intake is absolutely massive.

In profile, the power bulge is still an eye-catching feature, but the vents behind the front wheels also become obvious. They give the car a racing look and are meant to pull cool air through the brakes, and it exits through these vents. The rear fenders are also enlarged slightly, but not in an overly aggressive way. It shows some restraint on the designers’ part. There is a tiny lip spoiler at the rear that also shows restraint while providing extra downforce.

It is not obvious at first, but the roof is made from carbon fiber reinforced plastic to reduce weight and lower the center of gravity.

At the back the M4 concept is more of a tweak of the 4 Series. The biggest change is the lower bumper and diffuser with four big exhaust outlets. There is no hiding that this car is meant to go fast with that many trumpets sticking out of the rear. The design of the rear bumper is meant to echo the front.