BMW will stop selling the 6 Series Gran Turismo in the UK

While BMW has recently facelifted the 6 Series Gran Turismo, it's stopping sales of the car altogether in the UK. Just like the 3GT stopped here a while back.

BMW UK has actually pared back on several model variations, although the 6GT and 3GT are the first where it has cancelled an entire bodystyle in Britain that's still available in Europe.

Top Gear suggested to a spokesperson that the world's least-BMW BMW, the 2 Series Gran Tourer seven-seat minivan, might be next for the chop. But we were told it's actually selling quite nicely in the UK. Equally its five-seat relative, the 2 Series Active Tourer, is also safe from the right-hand-drive reaper. That one is a fave with both urban families and the Metropolitan Police.

The reduction in model variant count is about making life simpler for the buyer. And presumably the dealer. It's more straightforward estimating PCPs and residual values too.

The range had become bewilderingly vast. So now where Munich makes some cars available in some markets with a choice of auto or manual transmission, or 2WD or 4WD, it might not happen in the UK. Also, many of the options are being bundled into packs.

This is in addition to the reduction in powertrain variants that is occurring across the car industry because of the extra work in certifying to the WLTP and RDE economy and emissions tests.

We recently asked BMW's head of product management about the company's approach on a global scale. He said: "If you add things you have to edit others. The 3 Series Gran Turismo, I could imagine others will disappear too. The i4 and iNext will bring new things." It's not just about those two all-electric models. The company has also recently added the 2 Series Gran Coupe and X7, and lost (sob) the i8.