Despite the challenging market conditions, with rising COE premiums and an uncertain global economic outlook, BMW has had a reasonably good year so far.
In Singapore, the German carmaker reported a 12 per cent year-on-year growth in sales figures for the first quarter of 2025, helped in part by a product lineup refresh that included the introduction of its all-new X3 SUV, one of the brand’s all-time best-sellers.
And BMW is continuing to build on that success by bolstering its lineup even further with the launch of more new models, such as the latest 2 Series Gran Coupe.
What’s new about this 2 Series Gran Coupe?
The front and rear have been completely redesigned, and feature sleeker styling with new headlamps, grille and taillights. It mimics the look seen on the new 1 Series, which has also been quietly introduced here recently, and gives the 2 Series Gran Coupe a more streamlined family look.
More significantly, the car is also bigger than before. Length has gone up by 20mm to 4,546mm, while the height has also been increased by 25mm to 1,445mm.
All that translates into more room for passengers, which is a welcome benefit as the car’s four-door coupe body style traditionally meant that space can be quite limited inside.
The rest of the interior has been updated as well, and the 2 Series Gran Coupe now features the BMW Curved Display that is now commonplace on most BMW models.
It consists of 10.25-inch driver instrument display and a 10.7-inch infotainment touchscreen, combined to look like one large giant screen, and is powered by the latest BMW Operating System 9 software.
How about changes under the skin?
The biggest key to the 2 Series Gran Coupe’s success in Singapore is likely to be its engine. BMW is offering the car in 216 Gran Coupe form, which means it comes powered with a 1.5-litre engine that produces 122hp and 230Nm of torque.
That’s a fairly sizeable increase over the previous car’s output of 107hp and 190Nm of torque, but crucially, it still manages to sneak right under the threshold to qualify for a Category A COE here.
For Singapore as well, the car will come with BMW’s M Sport package as standard. Aside from cosmetic enhancements like sports seats, the M Sport package also includes adaptive sports suspension with frequency-selective shock absorbers, sports steering, and a ride height that has been lowered by 8mm.
How much does it cost?
At launch, the BMW 216 Gran Coupe is retailing for $233,888 inclusive of COE (as of May 2025). This puts it in the middle of its two biggest German Cat A rivals, the Mercedes-Benz CLA 180, and the recently-launched Audi A3 Sedan.
BMW believes that the 216 Gran Coupe holds the formula to help it further bolster its sales success here, and the car joins a growing lineup of COE Cat A-eligible models from the brand. These include the 116 hatchback, 216i Active Tourer, X1 and X2 SUVs, and their electric equivalents, the iX1 and iX2.
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ben.chia@asiaone.com
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