SPYSHOTS: BMW Z5 on the ‘Ring, including interior

We’ve seen development prototypes of the BMW Z5 several times already, but this is the first time our European spy photographers have managed to capture the roadster on the Nürburgring. The car – built in collaboration with Toyota, which is preparing its own sports car set to resurrect the Supra nameplate – is being caned around the Nordschleife track ahead of its unveiling within the next two years.

As before, not much can be gleaned through the heavily-camouflaged design, although it does exhibit very traditional BMW roadster proportions, with an extremely long bonnet and a short deck. But the presence of front aero flics and larger wheels hiding bigger brakes suggests that this particular Z5 is a high-performance variant – a hot M version, perhaps?

However, this would contradict an earlier report by Road & Track, which quoted the project leader of the M2 as saying that there were no plans for BMW to build a full-fat M variant of the Z5 – as unfortunate as that seems. A more likely alternative would be a mid-table M Performance version, in the vein of the M240i.

The most powerful versions of the Z5 and Supra are expected to be propelled by a hybrid powertrain, utilising a BMW straight-six and electric motors drawing juice from supercapacitors, providing four-wheel drive. The cars are also tipped to benefit from BMW’s expertise in carbon fibre construction, joining the likes of the BMW i3, i8 and G12 7 Series in incorporating the material in their architecture.

These photos also show us the interior for the first time, and it looks pretty much identical to that of the Supra mule we saw last week. Everything from the dashboard design itself, to the BMW parts bin items like the steering wheel, semi-virtual instrument display and even the climate control switchgear are the same ones seen in the Toyota. Hopefully the final production cars will be differentiated further inside.

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