{"id":6748,"date":"2014-09-01T16:39:51","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T16:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nex.vamtam.com\/?p=6748"},"modified":"2014-09-01T16:39:51","modified_gmt":"2014-09-01T16:39:51","slug":"new-z4-convertible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/2014\/09\/01\/new-z4-convertible\/","title":{"rendered":"BMW’s new Z4 convertible is being developed alongside new Toyota Supra."},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\t

The new BMW Z4 has been officially teased for the first time, with a single, shadowy image of the new sports car, plus a promised unveiling next month.<\/p>\n

The new Audi TT and Mercedes SLC rival will make its debut on 17 August. While that rules out a Frankfurt Motor Show reveal, it matches up nicely with the 2017 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and Monterey Car Week. <\/p>\n

\n\tBest convertible cars to buy now\n\t<\/h2>\n\t

With BMW choosing Pebble Beach to debut the Z4, it’s likely that we’ll see the car in concept form rather than the finished product – full debuts are few and far between at the Monterey Car Week, though concept vehicles, one-offs and special edition cars often break cover.<\/p>\n\t

Therefore, we could see BMW unfurl the new Z4 in a similar manner to the all-new 8 Series, with a revealing concept vehicle to whet the appetite for the production model.Our exclusive images show how the new two-seat roadster could look when it arrives. It has already been spotted testing on multiple occasions, with the most recent spyshots showing it winter testing with a slightly more revealing disguise compared to earlier mules lapping the Nurburgring.<\/p>\n

The new Z4 Roadster will replace the ageing second-generation model, in production since 2009, and be a fresh rival for the likes of the Porsche 718 Boxster, as well as a reborn Toyota Supra currently being developed in parallel and set to use the same platform.<\/p>\n

It’s likely the new car will ditch the current Z4’s heavy metal folding roof for a lighter, more traditional fabric hood. This could mean it’s being aimed more towards the Porsche 718 Boxster and away from softer, more refined cars like the Mercedes SLC. The soft-top will gain a rear window for production.<\/p>\n

An insider told us that “this car will use the same lightweight body construction as the i3 and i8. And even with that type of construction, you can expect a price around the same as that of the current Z4.”<\/p>\n

The familiar set-back cabin, pert rear-end and long bonnet remain on the new model and the kidney grille looks to be larger than ever.<\/p>\n

Mounted behind the front axle will be a range of BMW’s ‘TwinPower’ turbo petrol engines which will be offered in both four and six-cylinder forms. Expect at least 200bhp from base models, with top-end turbocharged straight-six variants nudging 300bhp. As before, all cars will be rear-wheel drive.<\/p>\n

The Z4 will also use the same rear axle design as the M3 and M4, and it’s likely that a full M version will follow within a year, possibly using the M2’s 365bhp 3.0-litre straight-six.The Z4 also provides a base for Toyota’s new super-coupe. Rumours suggest it will bring back the iconic ‘Supra’ name, though unlike the Z4 Roadster it’ll be a hard-top coupe, influenced by the FT-1 concept from 2014. <\/p>\n

The Toyota version has potential to receive a plug-in hybrid model, with electric motors boosting output instead of a turbocharger. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new BMW Z4 has been officially teased for the first time, with a single, shadowy image of the new sports car, plus a promised unveiling next month. The new Audi TT and Mercedes SLC rival will make its debut on 17 August. While that rules out a Frankfurt Motor Show reveal, it matches up…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13435,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,23,24],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-6748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cars","category-manufacturing","category-mechanical","tag-engines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6748","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/figroup.us\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}