Paris Motor Show 2002 Highlights

BMW Z4
by Sam Livingstone

At last years Frankfurt show BMW launched the current 7 series, the first production BMW with the new design language coming undiluted from Design Director Chris Bangle. Now, at Paris, the Z4 sports car is launched and shows us the open top sports (as opposed to the luxury saloon) end of the new BMW form language spectrum.

Replacing the hugely popular Z3, the Z4 is bigger, more expensive, more sophisticated and moves to compete head on with the Mercedes SLK, Audi TT, Honda S2000 and soon the Nissan 350Z convertible.

The car is launched with the existing BMW 2.5 and 3.0 litre 6 cylinder engines, and has a far superior suspension system and greater torsional rigidity compared to its predecessor. As such it is likely that the Z4 will be class leading in its dynamic capabilities. But for a sports car to be successful it must match sporty performance with the right visual message, and it is here that the Z4 maybe less convincing.

The Z4 is the first production car to feature the unusual, chaotic 'flame surfacing' previewed on the X-Coupe concept car early last year and as a result it unequivocally has the most unusual surfacing of any current production car. The X-coupe met with a predominantly negative reception in Detroit and the Z4 was receiving a similarly negative response from designers I spoke with in Paris. But seeing the car under the lights at the show for the first time it is hard to take in such a radical aesthetic, of all cars the Z4 needs to be seen outside and over time to be judged fairly.

However the Z4 may ultimately be perceived, it is an unusual design strategy that adopts such a radical approach for a relatively conservative brand targeting a relatively conservative target customer. And it is an unusual strategy to ignore a design heritage that has so much value in what it signifies to existing customers, and one that so many other brands would be glad to have as the basis for future reinterpretation.

Only time will tell if this new BMW sports car design language is accepted, and the Z4 is a commercial success, but lets hope that it is celebrated for innovating as well as being questioned for challenging the status quo.