2019 BMW 8 Series Convertible officially revealed

Meet the new BMW drop-top flagship, the all-new 8 Series Convertible! 

It was only yesterday when the BMW 8 Series Convertible made it to the internet in a series of leaked images, and in view of that, the company has now decided to release all the official details of the car. So, ladies and gentlemen, here’s the all-new 8 Series Convertible - the new flagship drop-top for the Bavarian brand.

Let’s cut direct to the chase then. The 8 Series drop-top will be available with a folding fabric roof, which will come in black as standard, or Anthracite silver as optional. BMW says that the roof can be opened or folded in 15 seconds flat, up to speeds of 50km/h. You’ve to say it’s a rather handsome car, whichever way you like to keep that roof.

Other than the roof, the 8 Series Convertible shares all the components and equipment with the 8 Series Coupe. This means the interior will feature BMW’s new OS7.0 infotainment along with a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. It’ll come with a 2+2 seat layout, but the rear legroom is going to be tight as compared to the Coupe.

Like the coupe, there are two powertrains on offer with the drop-top – one petrol and one diesel. The petrol version comes badged as M850i xDrive, meaning it’ll feature a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 rated at 523bhp and 750Nm of torque. Power transmission duties will be carried out by an eight-speed torque converter. 0-100km/h will be done in 3.9 seconds, which is 0.2s slower than the coupe.

The diesel version, 840d xDrive, gets a 3.0-litre inline six turbo unit that produces 315bhp and 680Nm of torque. It’s also paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Performance wise, it’s a bit relaxed though, with 0-100km/h taking 5.2 seconds.

The safety net in the convertible is identical to what’s offered in the coupe, meaning autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, blind-spot monitoring, rear collision warning, lane departure warning, et al, are also available in the drop-top.

The BMW 8 Series Convertible will be launched around March 2019 in European markets. Will it come to India? It’s anyone’s guess right now, but we hope it does. Along with the Coupe, of course.