---
title: "Rumor Mill Suggests a Lighter, Faster, BMW 6 Series"
description: "Will the next BMW 6 series go Porsche hunting?"
date: "2016-05-18"
modified: "2016-05-18"
authors:
  - name: "Jonathon Ramsey"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/jonathon-ramsey.md"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/3543/rumor-mill-suggests-a-lighter-faster-bmw-6-series"
categories:
  - "BMW News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "BMW"
  - "Rumor Mill"
---

# Rumor Mill Suggests a Lighter, Faster, BMW 6 Series

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/051816-bmw-6series-rumor-hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

We’re dealing with rumor here, so you’ll want some aged balsamic sea salt to aid digestion. This is, however, a recurring, years-old rumor: BMW is apparently [turning the next-generation 6 Series](<https://www.automobilemag.com/news/will-bmw-build-porsche-911-fighter/>) into a Porsche 911 competitor “in all areas.” The scuttlebutt first [broke in 2014 in Car magazine](<https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/spy-shots/bmw/bmw-6-series-2017-new-six-codenamed-g15-is-lighter-sportier/>), then-BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer said to want a vehicle in the carmaker’s lineup “worthy of the brand’s DTM laurels.” For some reason, BMW’s M4 – which was then and is now the basis for the brand’s DTM car – couldn’t be that vehicle. The well-known problem with appointing the 6 Series to combat the 911 is that the BMW is “pretty to look at but overweight, inadequately packaged and relatively soft-edged.”

The new intel says corrective measures include designing a new 6 Coupe that’s “marginally more compact,” with shorter overhangs and a wider track, weighing about 500 pounds less than at present. Much of that Jenny Craig routine will be thanks to the 6 sitting on the multi-material CLAR platform shared with the 7 Series, but we aren’t sure how the diet get the 6 into 911 territory over here. Porsche hasn’t listed an official curb weight for the 420-horsepower, 2017 911 Carrera 4S, and since each US car publication appears to have its own specific gravity – or Porsche PR rep – the estimated curb weights range from [3,153 pounds](<https://www.autonews.com/article/20160502/OEM03/305029975/2017-porsche-911>) to [3,263 pounds](<https://autoweek.com/article/car-reviews/2017-porsche-911-carrera-first-drive>) to as much as [3,400 pounds](<https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/2017-porsche-911-carrera-4s-coupe-first-drive-review>). The 315-hp BMW 640i Coupe weighs 4,015 pounds, the 445-hp 650i Coupe weighs 4,260 pounds, the 560-hp M6 Coupe with a manual transmission weighs 4,220 pounds. Removing 500 pounds from the 650i results in a coupe that’s still 360 pounds over the heaviest 911.

The situation is closer in Germany, though. There, a [911 C4S weighs 3,322 pounds](<https://www.porsche.com/germany/models/911/911-carrera-4s/featuresandspecs/>), the [640i weighs 3,707 pounds](<https://www.bmw.de/de/neufahrzeuge/6er/coupe/2014/fakten.html>), the 650i comes in at 3,949 pounds. Omit 500 large from the 650i in The Fatherland, throw in a few more ponies, and BMW is in with a shout.

The coming 6 Series will make the most of its new leanness with optional goodies like air suspension, rear-wheel steering, and active aerodynamics. Those aforementioned extra ponies will be unleashed by an inline six-cylinder with four turbos and 550 hp. The M6 gets active aero as standard, and [all-wheel drive to cope with](<https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/motor-shows-detroit-motor-show/bmw-m-boss-says-m2-x3-m-and-x4-m-development>) a 4.4-liter, twin-turbo V8 rumored to hit 600 hp.

The coupe model is the only one expected to reach the next generation – the 6 Series convertible and Gran Coupé are toast. We’ve already heard that BMW is working on an 8 Series or 9 Series, one of the design studies said to be [a “bigger and nobler” 6-Series Gran Coupé](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2396/why-the-new-bmw-8-series-makes-sense.md>) with a longer wheelbase, keyed off [the 2013 Gran Lusso Coupé concept](<https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/2818/bmw-x7-will-hunt-big-game.md>) of 2013. If [a 9 Series ultra-riche model](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/2720/bmw-wants-some-of-that-maybach-money.md>) gets the nod, it might come with a boosted inline-six with “two high performance e-motors for a combined 500 hp.”

### Author social links