BMW Z13 Concept #Blogpost

Many concepts were designed to be outlandish creations to show off what manufacturers can do when they have complete freedom with their designs, however nobody quite expected bavarian automotive giant BMW to come up with a small ,economical but still rather fast compact vehicle

This was the BMW Z13…

Conception

The Z13 was concepted by Robert Powell, who had only been a part of BMW’s design team for a couple of years after moving from Porsche. He had always liked the idea of creating a small car to be affordable to the general public but still offer a fun driving experience. He eventually started to think more and more about it whilst driving to and from work in his E34 5 Series and began to work on a conceptual design.

“The more I drove the 5-Series alone, the more I began to consider the idea of a small, fast, safe, compact and lightweight intercity traveler" -Powell in a recent interview with BMW Car Magazine

After showcasing his design to BMW, it was approved and funnily BMW themseleves had been pondering on the idea of a small, economical compact car for the general market but most of the proposed had never even made it past the drawing board. Powell was pleased about his design being approved and proposed that the Z13 should use a Carbonfibre Monocoque with aluminium sub-frames on the front and back. BMW however, were not so keen on the idea and suggested to use an all-aluminium space frame which was more cost efficient alternative to the initial proposal. The BMW i3 which has been around for a few years now has a rather similar design to what Powell initially proposed for the Z13 coincidentally.

Features,Quirks and Performance

The Z13 was certainly no slouch when it came to design quirks, most notable of all was the central seating position of which had been used in the recently launched McLaren F1 Super Car. The interior certainly was not lacking either with as much quality as the luxury based E32 7 Series, which from a compact economy car of the time was rather unheard of (even as a concept) to have such a luxurious interior. Performance was not lacking either, powered by the 1.1L 4 cylinder engine from the K1100 motorbike producing 82hp. However, despite the low power output, the Z13 weighed in at a mere 830Kg or 1,839lb and since it was so light a powerful engine was not necessary. The power was sent through the rear wheels through a Ford sourced CVT mounted at the rear.

Reception

The concept was well recieved by many and so much so that BMW commissioned Powell to design a second prototype. This second prototype was revised and featured many different components to the first, the Ford CVT was dropped in favour of a Five Speed Manual Gearbox and the 1.1L was replaced by the new 1.2L 4 Cylinder found in the K1200 motorbike. From the exterior both prototypes looked identical aside from the different colours, the interior also remained the same. The second prototype debuted in 1994…

Fate

The good reception of the Z13 from the public put confidence in BMW that they could produce a small economy car and it was to be put into production very soon after the second prototype debuted in 1994. However just months after that MG-Rover Group was purchased by BMW and that included the rights to the Mini Cooper which had been Britain’s compact car for the past 30 years and so an in-house compact car was no longer needed. BMW then kept the original Mini Cooper in production for another 6 years before creating what we know today as the BMW Mini Cooper.

Conclusion

So in the end the BMW Z13 never came to production and that makes me rather sad because it might have been a success for the marque, however ‘twas not to be and so time went on and it was somewhat forgotten, however BMW managed to hark back to the Z13 with the recent i3 that is also a compact, fun city car. So BMW Z13 you may not have gone into production but you certainly proved that you could be successful as a compact vehicle.

This ends my #Blogpost on the forgotten BMW Z13 that I had no idea existed until recently!
Anyway I hope you enjoyed, Pokecraft signing off…

Pokecraft03 (Car Catcher)
Lover of Cars and anime alike