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Mercedes has carved out a couple of exclusive niches for itself and BMW wants in. Earlier we showed a CS Concept based 8 Series, which targets the four-door coupe of the CLS-Class. Simultaneously, BMW is also pursuing Mercedes territory with the all new V-Series (aka, RFK or PAS) which will be aimed at Mercedes' R-Class market and our spies have caught a prototype testing in Lapland.

The styling of the all new V-Series features a fastback design allowing more headroom than the X6 whilst simultaneously being smaller than the R-Class. The V-Series will be based on the 5 series platform and is likely to inherit its entire engine range.

Our spy photographer managed to get a couple of shots of the interior – albeit heavily disguised, but it still reveals details such as the gear lever and iDrive.

As with all new BMW models, we are likely to see the V-Series in concept form possibly sometime during 2008 prior to the launch of a full production model in 2010.