Ah, the elusive two-seater roadster. They are few and far between on our roads today, and there’s a good reason for that. One of the largest car-buying markets in the world, China, doesn’t like them very much. And so, the rest of us suffer in silence as we anxiously await launches such as the ND MX-5, and now rumours of a brand new Z5.
At the Geneva Auto Show, Automotive News Europe caught up with BMW’s head of development, Klaus Frohlich, who has restored our faith in all things sporty with two seats. Yes, BMW wants to launch a replacement for the current Z4, and they’d like to do it in the next 5 years, they’d like to work with Toyota to develop it, and they’d like to call it a Z5.
However, due to the unpopularity of two-seat roadsters, a Z4 successor is not high on BMW’s list of priorities. Despite that, gossip would have us believe that the Z5 has already reached the conceptual phase and will allegedly use the same carbon-fibre tub as the i3 and i8.
If all goes well, the BMW Z5 (and Toyota variant) will surface around 2017.
Source : worldcarfans.com