New BMW Z4 Roadster listed on Indian website; launch imminent

-    The G29 BMW Z4 was revealed last year at Pebble Beach in August.

-    A test mule of the new Roadster has already been spotted in India.

-    Expected to be launched in the coming few weeks with a price tag between Rs 70-80 lakhs.

BMW took the covers off the new-gen Z4 Roadster in August last year. The third-gen Z4 was then spotted in India in late December undergoing homologation testing. And now, BMW India’s official website has listed the new Z4, hinting at an imminent launch. 

The G29 Z4 is built from the  ground-up on a new CLAR platform which also underpins the 5 Series, 7 Series and few other M cars. Appearance wise, it has the same ‘long bonnet-tight rear’ proportions. The headlight's LEDs are ‘vertically aligned’ and the new BMW kidney grille gets a mesh design instead of vertical louvres. The front bumper has a lot of black insets around the air-vents and there are creases on the bonnet adding to its masculine appearance. There is a large vertical vent on the front fender behind the wheels, while the soft-top replaces the hard folding-top of the previous generation. 

The cabin is unmistakably BMW with a no-nonsense and functional layout. The driver-focused cockpit gets a new digital instrument cluster and multifunction steering wheel. The 10.25-inch infotainment screen features BMW Operating System 7.0 which is the most advanced version of BMW’s iDrive system. The boot capacity is 281litres, whether the soft-top is open or closed, which is an increase of more than 50 per cent compared to the outgoing model.

Also Read : India-bound BMW Z4: Now in Pictures

The new Z4 is currently available with three engine options. The 2.0-litre four-pot in the sDrive20i guise produces 195bhp/320Nm hitting a ton in 6.6seconds. The sDrive30i variant produces 256bhp and 400Nm and does the 0-100kmph sprint in just 5.4seconds. And the top-spec Z4 M40i has a 3.0-litre straight-six punching out 340bhp/500Nm and capable of doing 0-100kmph in 4.5seconds. There are no plans for a full-blown Z4M sadly. 

The Z4 is likely to go on sale in the coming few weeks. It will be in the price bracket of around Rs 70-80 lakhs but the top-spec M40i guise may possibly cost more than Rs 1.1 crore. Developed alongside the resurrected Toyota Supra, the new Z4 will be a rival to the Porsche 718 Boxster and Jaguar F-Type in India.