It feels like we have been patiently waiting for the BMW Z4 for years now. Many expect that wait to be over by the end of the month, BMW should hopefully reveal the results of its joint venture with Toyota later this month at Pebble Beach. We know quite a bit about the car already, what we haven’t heard about is whether BMW’s M Division will get the opportunity to look it over.
That is until today. In an interview to Car and Driver (which us European’s can’t read), BMW M CEO Frank van Meel claims that there isn’t a demand for a BMW M4. Many have drawn the conclusion that BMW won’t offer a Z4 M for the next generation Z4. This is entirely consistent with the approach taken for the current generation BMW Z4 which did not get an M Division version either.
Van Meel instead suggests that the M40i would be the perfect performance version of the Z4 which in his view, sits close to the BMW M2 in terms of overall concept. The BMW Z4 M40i will almost certainly get a 3.0 litre inline 6, turbocharged to give 335 hp in the Europe and 382 hp in the US.
In our view, one of the biggest disappointments of the current Z4 range is its lack of a hardcore, performance oriented model. The previous generation’s Z4 and Z4 Coupe models remain highly sought after, and with the success of the M2, we had expect BMW to want to offer a Z4 M once again.
One thing that might push the decision for BMW, notwithstanding sufficient customer demand, is the Coupe variant, the Toyota Supra. We know that Toyota plan a performance version of the Supra, we’re hopeful that BMW might be pushed to offer the same! For the moment though, the chance of this looks slim.
