BMW has unveiled its show piece for this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the BMW Zagato Roadster. The concept features many of the same dramatic curves as the Zagato Coupe that debuted earlier this year, but is dressed in top-down, Pebble Beach-appropriate attire.
BMW says the Zagato Roadster came together in record time, with BMW senior vice president of design Adrian van Hooydonk and Italian design firm head Andrea Zagato agreeing to partner on a second concept shortly after the Coupe version’s positive reaction. Once the project was given the green light, it took just six weeks to get from the design idea to the finished product being shown at Pebble Beach.
The car’s body features many of the same design elements seen on the coupe, including Zagato’s take on the BMW dual kidney grille, which is matte-finished and integrates the letter “Z” into its design. The front end also receives circular headlights with a “razorlight” strip of LEDs perched above on either side. The hood and front fenders get similarly styled intake vents, while the car’s long-wheelbase stance is complemented by short front and rear overhangs for an athletic look. Zagato’s signature “double-bubble” canopy has been worked into the Roadster’s convertible top cover, forming humps behind the pair of airplane wing-inspired roll bars. In back, the Zagato Coupe’s styling is seen again, with taillights set behind black-tinted glass, a bumper-integrated rear diffuser, and dual exhaust pipes.
Since this is a roadster, BMW and Zagato wanted to focus on the interior to help visually tie it to the exterior’s lines. A strip of brown leather creates a border around the cabin. More leather reaches across the instrument cluster and wraps around the roll bars and seats. More brown leather covers portions of the steering wheel, door panels, and center console. Brown contrast stitching accents the black leather seats, which also get Zagato’s “Z” logo embroidered on the headrest.
Like the Zagato Coupe concept, the Roadster runs and drives. Details on what motivates the car are slim, but as we speculated with its fixed-roof counterpart, it could be a Z4-derived drivetrain.
Thanks to: Motor Trend
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