The BMW Z1 car is a two-seat soft top roadster. It uses the engine and transmission from the BMW E30 car 325 model mounted in a specially designed base frame or chassis, which is made from galvanised steel. BMW car's front suspension is re-worked 325 components, with a wider track. The rear car's z1 suspension is the specially designed 'Z axle'. The most distinctive features of the body Z1 are the electrically powered doors, which in the open position drop down into the side sills, this creating the ultimate 'open car' when the soft top is lowered underneath its' flat cover.

The first example of a Z1 car was released by BMW to the press in 1986 and later officially presented at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show. Initial demand was so fierce that BMW had 5,000 orders before production began. Unfortunately, demand dropped significantly around 1988 and BMW ended production Z1 cars in 1991. There is speculation that this drop in demand was due to the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz SL (Brossaud, 1) and the early inflated demand from speculative investors. In 1988, however, BMW was quoted as saying that they had 35,000 orders for Z1s.

The Z1 car was designed over a three-year period by an in-house division of BMW Forschung und Technik GmbH. The development of the Z1 is attributed to Dr. Ulrich Bez, not to forget the core of his team at BMW Technik GmbH (Alexander Pregl, Rudolf Mller, Lutz Janssen, Wolf-Henryk Menke, Dieter Schaffner, Klaus Faust, Sabine Zemelka and Stephan Stark). Control of the project was turned over to Dr. Klaus Faust when Bez left for Porsche in October, 1988.

BMW considered building an all-wheel drive model but this was later scrapped.

Z1 car was used to develop and debut several technologies. Z1 designer Harm Lagaay mentioned that Z1 production helped generate patents for BMW's high-intensity discharge lamp, integrated roll-bar, door mechanism, and underbody tray.

Z1 options

Manufacturer	BMW
Production	March, 1989–June, 1991
Successor	BMW Z3
Class	Roadster
Platform	BMW E30
Engine(s)	2.5 L BMW M20B25 I6
Wheelbase	2447 mm (96.3 in)
Length	3921 mm (154.4 in)
Width	1690 mm (66.5 in)
Height	1227 mm (48.3 in)
Curb weight	1250 kg (2755.8 lb) empty 1460 kg (3218.7 lb) fully loaded
Related	BMW 3-Series

Z2