BMW reportedly killing 8 Series for new 6, and canceling XM successor

We’ve got a three-way standoff here, the truth maybe lying somewhere in the middle of the triangulation. We’ll start with an Automotive News report that outlines some remarkable changes coming to the BMW lineup. AN credits Sam Fiorani at AutoForecast Solutions for intel that BMW will cease production of the 8 Series around the middle of 2026 without a successor in place. If that happens, it would mean the reborn 8 got eight years on the market, from 2018 to 2026, one year down on the original 8 Series from the 1990s. And stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Citing “a supply-chain industry source,” AN reports that BMW will begin production of a new 6 Series around the middle of 2026. An anonymous BMW dealer told the outlet, in AN’s words, the new 6 would “appeal to upwardly mobile consumers who appreciate performance and luxury,” but it’s not clear if the dealer was confirming the 6 rebirth or commenting on what a potential new 6 would do in the lineup.

This possible two-step, 8 into 6, would copy what happened about 25 years ago. BMW retired the first 8 Series in 1999, then launched the second coming of the 6 Series in 2003. The third-generation 6 Series coupe and convertible left our market in 2018, followed out the door by the Gran Coupe and Gran Turismo in 2019. 

A putative future 6er would sit on the automaker’s next-generation Cluster Architecture due on the market in 2025. Designed to accommodate pure ICE, hybrid, and pure electric powertrains, we’re told the new 6 would come as a coupe and convertible and offer at least one gas-powered option.

But wait, there’s more. The AN story quotes a supply-chain analyst in saying the XM is going to be one-and-done come 2028 after BMW canceled the planned all-electric successor codenamed G79. Adding fire to fire, AN heard from Fiorani that the gas-powered 4 Series is said to meet its demise the same year, replaced by an electric-only 4 Series in coupe and convertible body styles that takes the current i4’s place in the lineup. 

On the other side of this, we have denials: BMW answered inquiries about this from a few outlets, telling Road & Track, “While as a matter of policy BMW does not comment on third-party speculation regarding future product development, given the attention recent stories have received, we feel it necessary to clarify that there are currently no plans to reintroduce the BMW 6 Series to the market for model year 2026, despite what is being widely reported in automotive media circles. BMW has made no official statement on the future of a successor to the BMW XM.”  

So there. Unless we check the Bimmerpost forum page that BMW insider ynguldyn has used for years to post information on future product, amassing an excellent track record. Starting at the top, a bullet point declares the current-generation 8 Series will end production over the 2025 and 2026 calendar years and the second-generation 8 Series cabriolet, Gran Coupe and M8 Gran Coupe will begin production in July 2026, running until June 2033. The twist here is that while six variants are ending, only four trims are continuing; seems like the M8 in coupe and convertible forms will be no more, based on this info.

There’s no mention of a new 6 Series on the page. A Which Car? article from 2022 makes a similar same case as the AN piece — 8 Series and 4 Series die, turned into a new 6 Series. On the Bimmerpost thread discussing the AN report, user “hb,” later revealed to be Horatiu Boeriu from BMW Blog, writes that while that might once have been the plan (BMW Blog wrote about it, naturally), plans have changed, so the “8 Series will live on, in limited variants” and there’s no 6 Series comeback. 

BMW’s denials didn’t mention the 4 Series, making it the least-contested aspect of the AN piece. The Bimmerpost future product page says the 4 Series in all forms ends production in 2028, the next i4 hitting assembly lines from July 2028 to October 2036.

And the battery-electric XM? It’s there under G79, supposedly in production from December 2028 to November 2035. We have a feeling there are more changes coming to these plans before then.