The only BMW 8 X JEFF KOONS signed by the artist sells for more than 400,000 euros

BMW’s flirtation with the art world is a relationship that has lasted for more than 45 years, since the Bavarian brand created the BMW Art Car Collection, using its most iconic models as canvases for different artists who have painted their art onto their bodywork. All of them are coveted by collectors, while the rest of the world can see them thanks to the smartphone app the brand has developed, making them accessible to virtually anyone.

Many renowned artists have collaborated with BMW on these works of art on wheels, the most representative arguably being the M1 Procar Group 4 created by Andy Warhol, but few can say they have more than one of these models bearing their signature. Among them is the American artist Jeff Koons, first in 2010 with the decoration applied to the M3 GT2 of the time and, this year, on the Series 8, of which a limited edition of just 99 units was created at a cost of 350,000 dollars.

All these units, named BMW 8 X JEFF KOONS, share a decoration characterised by the use of bright colours typical of “POP” culture, such as yellow for the bumpers, a grey base and various stripes in different shades of blue, finished with drawings and the word POP on the sides. Inside, the artist Jeff Koons also applied his idea to the leather upholstery using red and blue, while the brown colour provides the discordant note.

The BMW 8 X JEFF KOONS is based on the Series 8 M850i xDrive, a model that, incidentally, we tested for all of you in 2019. It uses a 4,400 cc twin-turbo V8 engine producing 530 CV together with 750 Nm of torque, transmitted through the eight-speed Steptronic automatic gearbox and the xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system that prioritises the rear axle.

The peculiarity of these 99 units is that only one has been signed by Jeff Koons himself. That unit was sold on 4 April at Christie’s auction house in New York, surpassing the sale price of the rest by a few dollars, specifically 475,000 dollars, which equates to about 435,500 euros. The proceeds will go entirely to the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC), an organisation Koons has been supporting for more than 20 years.