MELBOURNE: BMW Z4 sales reduced by 11 percent in Europe last year. While it sold only 83 BMW Z4 in Australia in 2014, down 13 percent on the previous year.
Keeping that in view company has decided to launch new BMW Z5 a hard top or coupe variant could be released at a later date if sales of the car are strong enough.
Chief engineer Klaus Fröhlich, at the 2015 Geneva Motor Show, is hopeful of launching a successor to the BMW Z4 (if that’s what it ends up being called) before 2020 despite global demand for two-seat sportscar declining.
“If you look at the volume… we have to realize that these segments are shrinking,” Fröhlich told AN. According to the publication, sales of the Z4, which hit the market in its current form back in 2009, dropped 11 percent in Europe and 13 percent in North America. The car also is less attractive to customers in China for a number of reasons.
“Chinese customers are not interested in roadsters,” Fröhlich explained. That’s because privacy is a high priority for drivers in China, AN said. On top of that, open-roof cars expose their customers to China’s notorious air pollution, which drivers are understandably keen to avoid.
According to recent production rumors, the BMW Z4 replacement will be named the Z5. The new roadster will likely be built around a carbon fiber tub in a similar fashion to the i3 and i8.
If all goes according to plan, the BMW Z5 and Toyota‘s version will be out around 2017, well ahead of BMW’s 2020 target date.
