« Shake off an M5 with your Vectra | Home Page | Cadillac and Corvette back in the UK »
BMW Z4 Coupe
By Yoann Besnard on 18 September 2005 | 
(1) Comments | Permalink
This is BMW’s answer to the Nissan 350Z and Porsche Cayman, a coupe version of the Z4 roadster. That’s what BMW wants us to believe because the collapsing sales of the “flame surfacing” roadster tell a different story. Its sales are so far from the forecasts that it could become uneconomical to produce. From 56,000 sales in 2003, it dropped to 34,000 in 2004 and some insiders say the first six months of this year sales have declined by another 30 percent. Although it is displayed as a concept-car at the Frankfurt Motor Show at the same time as Porsche presents the Cayman, this coupe will go into production next year.
The bodywork of the Z4 is nearly unchanged - including the door and the nose - in order to reduce the development cost of the new model, like Porsche did with the Cayman. More elegant than the roadster, the coupe’s roofline blends into a high boot lid with an integrated spoiler. An interesting quirk: the rear upper body lifts to access the boot. The interior from the roadster is unchanged but is the concept-car blends brown leather with aluminium door inserts and dashboard controls.
The coupe will be powered by the 3.0-litre straight six, 261 bhp and 232 lb ft whereas sources says it could also be powered by the V8, 400 bhp, from the future M3.
Comments
Posted by: Salman | Dec 7, 2005 7:16:16 PM
The cars paint job looks very unfinished, almost looks like a 'spy shot' to me.
