The first rumors of a BMW Z10 model were encountered back in March when the UK based magazine Autocar wrote an article on the EfficientDynamics supercar being developed by BMW. The rumormill was mentioning a Vision Concept as the base for this smaller car with more modern styling than the Z8. Some CS Concept design cues were also rumored to be featured on the Z10 ED.

Several months later and Automobile Magazine does a follow up story on the BMW Z10 and brings upfront more inside information from the Munich based automaker. The Z10 is being engineered as a coupe and a roadster and with a target weight of 3,300 lbs. While the original plans included the powerful twin-turbo V8, recent developments shifted the strategy towards efficiency and a smaller, but still powerful six cylinder 3.0 liter twin-turbo engine is in the game.

Outputting 450 horsepower and 350 lb-ft of torque, the new engine will be matted to an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. Unfortunately we couldn’t confirm these allegations and we have to admit that we will be very impressed if BMW will manage to squeeze out that much power out of the 3.0 liter engine. The 450 horsepower could indeed be achieved with the use of a hybrid system that could have one or two electric motors.

Automobile Mag continues to speculate that a lighter and more compact twin-turbo V6 is being tested by BMW as well.

As seen in the BMW Vision EfficientDynamics Concept as well, the Z10 will feature cutting-edge elements, including carbon-fiber, magnesium chassis parts and lots of aluminum panels. To improve efficiency, a thermal-management system will preheat the lubricants with exhaust gas and it will restrict internal airflow.

Positioned above the M5, the Z10 would be priced in the $110,000 range, but we shouldn’t expect to see the first road model until 2014.

Our advice is to take these news with a grain of salt since we weren’t able to confirm the story ourselves.

[Source: Automobile Mag ]