BMW Z

BMW Z
Overview
Manufacturer	BMW
Production	1989–1992 1995–2016 2018–
Body and chassis
Class	Sports car
Body style	2-door roadster 2-door coupé 3-door coupé
Layout	Longitudinal front-engine, rear-wheel-drive

The BMW Z models are a line of roadsters manufactured by German automaker BMW. The Z stands for zukunft (German for future),^[1] and has been produced in four different series with five generations consisting of roadster, coupé, sports car, and concept variants.

The introduction of the M Coupé and M Roadster in the Z3 line marked the first of the Z series to have a high-performance BMW M variant. The first generation Z4 also continued to offer M Coupé and M Roadster vehicles, before being discontinued in the third generation E89 Z4.^[2]

First generation (E30 based Z1; 1989–1991)

BMW Z1

BMW Z1

The BMW Z1 is a two-seat roadster developed by BMW and was produced from March 1989 to June 1991.^[3] The Z1 featured unusual doors which, instead of opening outward or upward, dropped down into the door sills.^[4] Only 8,000 examples of the Z1 were produced.^[5]

Second generation (E36/7/8 Z3; 1995–2002)

BMW Z3 2.2i

BMW Z3 1.9i

The Z3 was the first modern mass-market roadster produced by BMW.^[6] The Z3 was introduced as a 1996 model year vehicle shortly after being featured in the James Bond movie, GoldenEye, and more than 15,000 roadsters were sold out by the time the car was introduced.^[7] The Z3 underwent a facelift in 1999 and featured revised styling, before the end of its production run in 2002.^[8] It was manufactured and assembled in Spartanburg, South Carolina.^[9]

Third generation (E52 Z8; 2000–2003)

BMW Z8

BMW Z8

The Z8 was produced from 2000 to 2003 and was the production variant of the 1997 Z07 concept car, which was designed by Danish Henrik Fisker at BMW's DesignworksUSA.^[10] The Z07 originally was designed as a styling exercise to celebrate the BMW 507, and the overwhelming popularity of the concept spurred BMW's decision to produce a limited production model called the Z8. 5,703 Z8s were built, approximately half of which were exported to the United States.^[11]

Fourth generation (E85/E86 Z4; 2002–2008)

BMW Z4 2.2i

BMW Z4

The first-generation BMW Z4 was known as the E85 in roadster form and E86 in coupé form.^[12] It was designed by Danish BMW-designer Anders Warming.^[13]

The Z4's design addressed many criticisms of the preceding Z3; and was larger and featured a significantly stiffer chassis.^[14] The Z4 was initially only available as a roadster, but a coupé version was officially launched in 2006.^[15] The last model rolled off the assembly line on 27 August 2008 at the Spartanburg plant.^[16]

Fifth generation (E89 Z4; 2009–2016)

BMW Z4

BMW Z4

The second-generation Z4 was announced on 13 December 2008^[17] and debuted at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit the following month.^[18] It is the first Z Series model to use a retractable hardtop and meant that there were no longer separate roadster and coupé versions of the car.^[19] The top is made of a two-piece lightweight aluminium shell and takes 20 seconds to operate.^[20] Manufacturing was moved from Spartanburg, United States to Regensburg, Germany.^[21]

Sixth generation (G29 Z4; 2018–present)

BMW Z4

BMW Z4

The G29 Z4 is the third and current generation Z4 and was unveiled at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on 23 August, 2018.^[22] It reuses the soft-top convertible roof found on the E85 Z4 instead of a retractable hardtop. The G29 Z4 also shares its platform with the fifth generation Toyota Supra.^[23]

Z9 Concept (1999)

1999 BMW Z9 Concept

The BMW Z9 (or Z9 Gran Turismo) is a concept coupé introduced at the 1999 Frankfurt Auto Show,^[24] with a convertible variant later unveiled at the 2000 Paris Auto Show.^[25] The vehicle features unique gull-wing doors that also opened like a conventional hinged door and innovations such as an early concept of BMW's iDrive system, called the Intuitive Interaction Concept, were incorporated into other production vehicles.^[26] Much of the styling found on the E63 6 Series is also derived from the Z9.^[27]

Production and sales

The following are the production and sales figures for Z models, excluding the Z1:^{[28][29][30][31][32][33]}

References