The new 2009 BMW Z4 has been inadvertently revealed two weeks early in a series of internet leaks (thanks Zpost.com and Bmwblog.com). These two shots have been posted on internet forums – one revealing the front three-quarters of the new coupe-cabriolet in a showroom and the other showing a slightly distorted rear view from a brochure shot.
As you can see, the new Z4 will ditch the simple canvas roof of today’s model for the latest folding hard top tech. So there will be a single model, instead of today’s less efficient separate roadster and coupe models. Hardly surprising as just 10% of Z4 owners have picked the tin-top in recent years…
Tell me more about that roof
We hear the BMW Z4’s roof will do its origami positioning in a scant 14 seconds and these first shots suggest that BMW has managed to avoid the dumpy rear styling that can blight some CCs.
We’ll see the Z4 later in December, before a Detroit show debut in January 2009. Expect UK sales in May 2009. The full tech story hasn’t been announced, but CAR understands the new sportster will have a 272bhp 3.0-litre six and a turbocharged version cranking out 360bhp.
What of the outgoing, mad-as-a-box-of-frogs Z4 M? Sadly, there will be no space in the engine bay for a V8, but Munich is withdrawing from big eights in its smaller models. Even the next M3 will revert to a six-pot, we hear.
>> Read the new January 2009 issue of CAR Magazine for a full preview of the BMW Z4 – and 63 other key cars of 2009