1995: Crazy Eights

As a whole, BMW was certainly on a sales roll in the 1990’s, the one exception being the 8-series range, which, in marketing terms, seemed to have its parking brake on. The next-generation big coupe would be based on the forthcoming 5-series platform (which was to make it more affordable and supposedly more compact), and BMW was also reportedly working on an electrically retractable aluminum hardtop.  Alas the only thing that was reduced was its series, down two, to 6.