BMW – Zagato Coupé

Vehicle Overview

The BMW Zagato Coupé is a BMW concept car made in collaboration with the Italian Coachbuilder Zagato in 2012.  It made its debut at the Villa d’Este Elegance Competition in May of the same year.

The concept is the result of the collaboration between the German car manufacturer BMW and the Italian coachbuilder Zagato. Although this is the first collaboration between the two realities, the car somehow links up the historic bond between BMW and the Rivolta family (Marella Rivolta, Andrea Zagato’s wife, took care of the finishes and colors) dating back to 1954, when the Germans acquired patents for the realization of the Isetta under license from the Enzo Rivolta Iso.

The starting point for this concept was the mechanics and technology of the Z4, on which the BMW and Zagato designers created the new body.  Adrian van Hooydonk, Senior Vice-President of BMW Group Design, and Norihiko Harada, Zagato’s Chief Designer, had been friends for a long time, and when Andrea Zagato proposed a collaboration between the two companies, the project went ahead relatively quickly short.  In the design phase, both BMW and Zagato soon shared the philosophy of adopting an approach more closely linked to reality, which is why a concept car was born that is very close to a mass production car. In fact, although it is a one-off concept, the BMW Zagato Coupé is registered for road use, meeting legal requirements worldwide.