World's leading award for innovation in body construction goes to BMW for the third time.
30 Oct 2017 | 3658 Views | By Autocar Professional Bureau
BMW’s 6 Series Gran Turismo has been chosen as the winner of the EuroCar Body Award 2017. At their annual conference in Bad Nauheim, Germany, automobile construction experts from all over the world voted for the car, which makes it the third time that a BMW model has won the ...
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BMW’s 6 Series Gran Turismo has been chosen as the winner of the EuroCar Body Award 2017. At their annual conference in Bad Nauheim, Germany, automobile construction experts from all over the world voted for the car, which makes it the third time that a BMW model has won the award, after the BMW i8 (2014) and the BMW 7 Series (2015).
The jury of the world's leading award for innovation in body construction, first introduced in 2002, were particularly impressed by the efficient development and production concept used as well as the customer benefits provided by the body.
Introduced worldwide at the end of 2017, the 6 Series Gran Turismo perfects the vehicle concept initiated by the 5 Series Gran Turismo, combining the travel comfort of a luxury class sedan with the aesthetic appeal of a coupé, while also offering a high degree of functionality. Intelligent lightweight construction and the increased use of aluminium and high-strength steel types for the body and chassis components helped reduce the weight of the new 6 Series Gran Turismo by an average of 150 kilograms as compared to the predecessor model. 44 kilograms of this were due to the body alone. The result is also much improved aerodynamic properties.
The jury members especially emphasised the design solutions developed by BMW for the rear: "Based on a large, single-section pressure die-cast aluminium tailgate frame and an innovative rear design which does without a water drainage channel, it was possible to achieve a very large, convenient rear opening with a maximum view through the rear window – combined with a luggage compartment volume increased by 110 litres as compared to the predecessor model" – as was stated in the rationale for the EuroCar Body Award.
The jury likewise underscored the efforts made by the German carmaker to reduce vehicle weight by means of intelligent lightweight construction. Here again, the body of the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo sets a new benchmark, in particular due to numerous detailed structural improvements – in spite of having to satisfy more rigorous crash requirements and having slightly increased dimensions.
Setting a new benchmark for body construction
A total of 550 body experts attended the 19th EuroCar Body in Bad Nauheim, Hesse. The conference focuses on the technical benchmarking of bodies and their production, as well as selecting the winners of the world's top awards for innovative body construction – the EuroCarBody Awards. These go to pioneering serial production developments in body construction.
For a period of three days, the experts discussed and assessed a dozen competing vehicles based on bodyshells and finished models. For the first time, vehicles were entered in two categories – one for volume-production models and one for premium segment vehicles.
The BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo ultimately not only won the EuroCar Body Award for the premium segment but also achieved the highest point score overall among all competitors. By ranking first in three of the four technical assessment categories, the BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo was ahead of the field in the technical categories of development and construction, production efficiency and customer benefits, thereby achieving a total score of 39.10 out of a possible total of 50 points.