Remember a few months back when we wrote about the handbuilt BMW Zagato Coupé? Well, in the three months since then, BMW built another one and hacked the roof off of it. Apparently, Adrian van Hooydonk, Director Design BMW Group, and Andrea Zagato decided the response was so good for the coupé that they needed to make a roadster variant. The goal was to present the convertible at Pebble Beach, which meant they took the car from initial design to finished car in only six weeks.
Interestingly, the BMW press releases have previously referred to the Zagato Coupé in very masculine terms, so it's notable that the press release (admittedly robot-translated from German) quotes Norihiko Harada, Zagato chief designer, as saying
"This car is not only designed as an elegant convertible but, also as a feminine and extremely dynamic sports Which reminds of a powerful driving experience,"
Maybe they're planning to mate the two cars soon, in a bold experiment in automobile production.
The roadster, like the coupé, is completely drivable, and features many of the same design motifs, including the Z-pattern grille, hood-to-body proportions, and a highly sculptural, flowing design language. The double-bubble trademark Zagato roof has been transposed to the behind the seats fairing, to nice effect.
It's nice to know that when we daydream about cars that there's little chance we're ever going to get to own or drive, we can choose between coupé or roadster, at least.