BMW Roadster Concept: BMW Vision ConnectedDrive Geneva debut

BMW Vision ConnectedDrive

We reported the other day that BMW were taking a roadster concept to the Geneva Motor Show, a car we expected to point the way to a new, smaller roadster – the BMW Z2. But it seems to be much more than just that.

The BMW Vision ConnectedDrive – for that is the catchy little moniker BMW has attached to this concept – is a showcase for BMW technology and the layered styling language we’ve already seen in the Vision EfficientDynamics concept (can’t we have some snappy little monikers instead of Anglicising the German practice of just joining words together in a line to make a new word?).

And it all looks rather good. There’s a typical BMW Roadster form with the long nose and cabin almost over the back axle, but beyond that it all feels very contemporary. There’s  a great shark-nose and the layered construct looks very funky and of the moment. There’s a reach back in to BMW’s history with the doors that slide in to the sills – just like the Z1 doors did twenty years ago – but even that seems of the moment.

On the technology front, BMW are looking for a way to get an ever-increasing volume of information to the driver in an effective and safe way. There are fibre-optic strands running round the cabin which change colour depending on what information is being transmitted, a new head-up display projecting a 3-D layered image on the windscreen and there’s a fully programmable instrument cluster.

All looks rather interesting. More when we get to Geneva.

By Cars UK