8coupe.com

You are on the home page of 8coupe.com, the world's largest 8 Series archive. All articles and posts in this archive are listed here, sorted by most recent date. You can sort or filter the articles yourself using the two labeled buttons on the right.

In the "Categories" navigation box, you can navigate through the individual topic sections of the 8coupe.com archive. Clicking on a category will display all articles in that section. The categories are structured the same way as on the previous 8coupe.com website.

VIN Database for All 8 Series Vehicles

All analyses and statistics from 8coupe.com are available free of charge in the 8er.org article system. The VIN database (VBS Reports), which includes all 8 Series vehicles along with analyses, images, and listings, is accessible online via a paid membership. To access this database, you must purchase a subscription. These revenues are used exclusively to cover the server and licensing costs for the 8er.org platform, which houses a 1 TB database.

If you are a paying member registered on 8er.org,…
Christoph
August 9, 2026 at 10:54 PM

Migration of 8coupe.com to 8er.org

Migration of all 8coupe.com data to the 8er.org platform

Over the past few months, the 8coupe.com website has been migrated to the 8er.org platform. The 8coupe.com website is based on web technologies that are no longer available, making it nearly impossible to modify its content or change its web hosting. It also no longer complies with the requirements of the new data protection laws and therefore had to be partially shut down in 2018.

The time has finally come: 8coupe.com is once again…
Christoph
August 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM

Color Combinations

Color Combo Overview

Color Combination (definition): The combination of the exterior color (farbe) with an interior upholstery color. With 125 exterior colors and 34 interior/upholstery colors applied to the 8 Series, there were potentially 4`250 different possible color combinations with 806 combinations actually in use.

1DIAMANTSCHWARZ METALLIC (181)LEDER NAPPA/SCHWARZ (0226/M4SW)1`765
2DIAMANTSCHWARZ METALLIC (181)LEDER WASSERBUEFFEL/ANTHRAZIT (0180/M6AT)1`214
3MAURITIUSBLAU METALLIC (287)LEDER
…
Christoph
March 28, 2026 at 11:20 PM

GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation)

The GDPR has been directly applicable in all EU member states since May 25, 2018, and governs the protection of personal data throughout Europe.

Background and Scope

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, EU Regulation 2016/679) was adopted on April 27, 2016, and entered into force on May 25, 2018. It replaces Directive 95/46/EC and harmonizes the rules governing the processing of personal data in the EU. The goal is to ensure the protection of natural persons while safeguarding the free…
Christoph
May 25, 2018 at 2:05 PM

News and Announcements

18 months after passing the 10k cars milestone we are pleased to announce that the 8Coupe team has managed to again add more than one thousand new 8ers to the archive which on this 11-11 coincidentally holds data for 11.111 8-series cars.


The overall per annum distribution did not change significantly and we now see more than 50% archived for the production years from 1995 onwards with the maximum at near two thirds for the last production year 1999.



Percentage of archived cars by production…
Christoph
November 11, 2015 at 6:00 PM

10,000 8-series cars in the 8Coupe.com archives

Less than a year after passing the 9,000 cars and the 30% archived threshold we are proud to announce having reached another milestone. As of this month we are in the 5 digit range and now hold data for more than 10,000 8-series cars in the 8Coupe archives.
Only a few hundred cars need to be added to achieve yet another long term goal - 1/3 of the entire production. We hope to be able to surpass this number during Summer 2014.

This past year saw near linear increases based on last year´s…
Christoph
April 27, 2014 at 8:00 PM

8,888 8ers in the 8Coupe archive... and more!

A very busy year of the 8Coupe team has led to another milestone - more than 9,000 cars were in the archives at the end of May 2013 and en route in the same month we also passed the "magic" 8er number of 8,888 cars. During the past year and despite one of the major markets, Japan obviously running out of cars, the 8Coupe team managed to find and identify more than 1.000 E31´s previously unaccounted for.

With more than 9,000 cars in the archives we are only a few cars shy of 30% (9187 cars) of…
Christoph
June 4, 2013 at 8:00 PM

News from the archive - 8.000 cars milestone

A new milestone - 8.000 cars in the 8Coupe.com archives has been reached today. Passing this mark we now have knowledge of 26.1% of all produced E31´s one way or the other.



  • A near linear growth rate has been maintained for more than 3 years now and on average just over 100 new 8ers were added to the archive every month.
  • The 8Coupe archive currently contains 124.000 pictures, nearly 69.000 PDF files and some 10k misc files.
  • We now store more than 200k files adding up to near 27 GB of data.
  • Since
…
Christoph
June 11, 2012 at 8:00 PM

Vehicle Build Sheet Report (VBS-R)

Vehicle Build Sheet (VBS)

Vehicle Build Sheet (VBS) - The build sheet is the “birth certificate” of the 8 Series. It reports the technical specifications, colors, and options of a particular vehicle. Dealer add-on accessories are excluded from the factory build sheets.

Vehicle Build Sheets are available upon request to registered and approved 8Coupe.com users in almost ten languages. They can also be requested through the BMW customer support and from most BMW dealerships.

The report comprises of…
Christoph
March 5, 2012 at 8:00 PM

25% archived 8ers milestone reached

After more than 7 years of data collection the fundamental milestone of archiving one quarter of the worldwide 8er production has been reached on February 29th, 2012.

Numerous 8er enthusiasts have contributed to the growth of the archive over the years, first and foremost Jud Spencer, who retired from his active duties for 8Coupe.com in August 2010. Most of the content of this website is a direct result of this enthusiasm and dedication which has continued to date.

Without the initial idea to…
Christoph
March 1, 2012 at 8:00 PM

BMW 8er Series - VIN/Chassis Information

BMW has assigned specific chassis number ranges for each variant of the 8 Series. Most of these numbers were actually used in production, but some were not. In cases where a chassis number was not used, one or more of the following reasons apply:

  • Market conditions prevented the complete expansion of the allocated chassis number range.
  • Due to a manufacturing defect, the car was withdrawn from public sale.
  • The transition to the new model/calendar year required a reorganization of the production
…
Christoph
February 2, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Production figures by year

Production by year

Automobile manufacturers handle their production statistics based on two information dimensions:

  • Model Year
  • Calendar Year

Model Year

The Model Year is defined as the period of time an auto manufacturer determines its sales, marketing and engineering support for a particular vehicle. The Model Year view is utilized by Japan, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East, and other coutnries.

In the USA, the Model Year cannot exceed the January of the previous year. For example, a…
Christoph
February 1, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Worldwide Shipping M60

Background

The BMW 8-series started out with one type of engine only, the V12 M70B50. Almost three years into the production BMW expanded the choice by offering the S70B56 marking the top end of the line complemented by the then new M60B40 V8 engine. Initial plans to offer the less powerful M60B30 3.0L V8 engine were scrapped after only 18 prototype units.

The 840Ci henceforth was the entry model of the 8-series and soon surpassed the sales figures for the aging M70B50 and also its successor the…
Christoph
January 21, 2012 at 8:15 AM

Worldwide Shipping M62

Background

Development of the successor to the highly successful M60B40 engine in the E31 began in December 1994 and continued throughout 1995. Starting in March 1996, the 840Ci was delivered with the 4.4-liter V8 M62B44 engine and, optionally, with a Steptronic transmission (ZF 5HP30 until September 1996, thereafter ZF 5HP24) or the already familiar and proven 6-speed manual transmission from Getrag.

Despite its larger displacement, the M62’s peak output remained unchanged at 286 hp compared…
Christoph
January 21, 2012 at 8:10 AM

Worldwide Shipping M73

Background

The BMW M73B54 V12 engine with a cubic displacement of 5.4L succeeded the M70B50 5.0L V12 in the 850Ci in autumn 1994 and was henceforth used solely in conjunction with the ZF 5HP30 5-speed Steptronic gearbox until the BMW 8-series production ended in May 1999.

The M73 850Ci was built in two LHD variants only: EG41 for the ECE market and EG43 for the North American customers

The M73 850Ci is the lowest production 8-series model and with only 1218 produced units can be considered "rarer"…
Christoph
January 21, 2012 at 8:05 AM

Worldwide Shipping S70

Background

The BMW S70B56 V12 engine is, despite its deviations from the philosophy of the M-GmbH, a true BMW Motorsport engine and hence the 850CSi is a true BMW M car. This is also reflected in the VIN of the CSi.

Ordinary BMW cars share the first three letters of the VIN – WBA – whereas the VIN´s for all cars manufactured under the reigns of the Motorsport division start with WBS beginnen.

This does not make the CSi an M8, at least not in the way the original M8 was devised. The CSi is a…
Christoph
January 21, 2012 at 8:00 AM

Vehicle Build Sheet Report - VBS-R - finally available

Just ahead of Santa Claus the 8Coupe.com team has eventually managed to finish a project long in the making.

The Vehicle Build Sheet Report (VBS-R) is filled to the brim with VIN specific unique background information that puts every conceivable statistical aspect for any given 8-series vehicle into a perspective.
The information contained is not available elsewhere and by far surpasses what even the manufacturer would be able to offer.
You will find precise figures for your car in relation to the…
Christoph
December 21, 2011 at 8:00 PM

2.000 cars & owners registered with 8Coupe.com

Nearly ten years after the first steps into becoming the worldwide 8er registry and archive were made, we have received the personal registration of the 2.000th 8-series car today. The 8-series was delivered to more than 80 countries and owners from no less than 66 thereof have signed up with 8Coupe.com

The majority of cars registered are located in North America with 50% of all registrations from the US (1.008) and more than 150 from Canada. The largest number of registrations in Europe stem…
Christoph
November 30, 2011 at 8:00 PM

Oct 1, 2011 - half the 8-series has turned 20

Half the produced E31´s today exceed the age of 20 years. 22 months into the series production but with almost 8 years to go, the majority of 8-series Coupé´s roamed the streets worldwide. The onset of the production for the E31 was very bright but a sharp decline in demand and consequently production numbers late in 1991 reduced the output from a maximum of near 70 cars per working day to only 20 and below in the years to come.

By October 1, 1991 the distribution of cars looked like below - all…
Christoph
October 1, 2011 at 8:00 PM