BMW Z4M: Waiting on another? Don’t count on it
We didn't get one last time, and the chief of BMW M reckons there's very little argument in support of a new Z4M.
While Toyota fanboys set the internet on fire speculating about the huge gaps in the publicly disclosed information about the new Supra, BMW has been much more forthright about its sister car, the forthcoming BMW Z4.
We’ve already driven a prototype version of the Z, and been told by the BMW team engineering it that the Toyota will share all of its major components including the same engines.
But now M Division’s boss, Frank Van Meel, has dropped a very broad hint that we shouldn’t hold our breaths waiting for a modern successor to the Z3M and first generation Z4M.
The top-spec Z4 from launch will be the M40i version (which we've driven), using the same straight-six engine from M’s ‘40i’ badged M-Performance models rather than the brawnier unit that powers the M2, M3 and M4. And Van Meel says this will likely be as good as it gets.
"Let me put it this way, I think the M40i is the perfect positioning, regarding performance of that car," he told Aussie journalists at the launch of the M2 and M5 Competition this week.
"It's quite close to the M2 so we're really happy with the overall concept of that car being an M40i. If you would go any higher it would be very, very narrow in customer groups."
So not an official no, but it sounds pretty close to us. Let’s hope Toyota creates an ultra-brawny version of the Supra and BMW feels honour bound to try and keep up.
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