Five things we know about the upcoming BMW 4 Series

Dubbed the M440i xDrive Coupe, this will be – at least until the new M4 shows its face – the 4 Series you will likely desire. The M340i Touring is, as we discovered recently, an exceptionally good car, with an exceptionally good engine.

That engine is a 3.0-litre turbo straight-six with 370bhp. It be Good.

A hybrid M car? It’s already here. The M440i will feature a 48V starter-generator and an additional battery to make the engine’s life a little easier, and indeed give it a shove once in a while.

As for that latter part, when you inevitably floor it, the hybrid setup will provide an additional 11bhp of electric boost, that, says BMW, “underpins lightning fast off-the-line getaways”.

So, the new BMW 4 Series is a GETAWAY car.

A final bit on the range-topper. It’ll come with an eight-speed auto – like the saloon, and the estate – along with an electronic M Sport differential, custom elastokinematics, M Sport brakes (read: beefier) and 18in light-alloy M Sport wheels. Said wheels will come with mixed-sized tyres that BMW reckons gives the Coupe “precisely controllably dynamics”.

For that, read: Much Drifting.

Elsewhere, the lift-related dampers first debuted on the 3 Series will get a different, sportier tune, there are custom tower-to-front end struts and a new shear panel on the bulkhead that is claimed to give better steering precision and response.

The rear axle, too, benefits from new bracing for better rigidity.

This one’s obvious. Being the Coupe, and therefore the Overtly Sporty One, the new Four is 57mm lower than the 3 Series on which it takes its base. BMW also tells us the centre of gravity is a further 21mm closer to the road.

BMW has also increased the negative camber at the front, and widened the rear track by some 23mm. Handling, innit.

It’ll use the turbo sixer from the X3 M. It will produce over 500bhp. It will come with the option of a manual gearbox. And also four-wheel-drive. Hybrid? Potentially.

We’ll know more when it’s launched officially later in the year. Watch this space…