The rumor that BMW is planning to resurrect the 8 Series was back in the news last week when the German automaker's R&D chief admitted that early proposals are already being looked at. Either it'll be a four-door coupe similar in concept but larger than the current 6 Series Gran Coupe, or a two-door coupe with a convertible variant, possibly similar to the Pininfarina-penned Gran Lsso Coupe. We're putting our money on the latter because BMW would benefit financially from two variants, not just one. But will there be an M variant?

Speaking to BMW M product manager Carsten Pries, CarAdvice was told that if BMW AG "ever decided to build an 8 Series, we (M) would obviously look at it." BMW will make the overall 8 Series decision by 2018, at which point M will get involved. "When we do the paperwork at the strategic early phase, then we have the biggest possibility to influence what will be developed as a base model," Pries added. However, there's a chance BMW won't do an M8, but an M Performance model instead to keep costs down. Or it could do both. After all, there are currently 10 M and 10 M Performance models. Why not make it 11 for each? But figure this: BMW isn't going to let the Mercedes-AMG S63 Coupe and Bentley Continental GT have all of the fun.