The BMW Z4, Explained: Three Generations of an Open Two-Seater

From the Zukunft badge to the Supra-sharing G29, a plain-language look at what the BMW Z4 is and how it got here.

The BMW Z4 is a two-seat roadster that BMW has built since 2003 as part of its Z series — the Z stands for Zukunft, German for future^[1]. The formula has never changed: engine in the front, drive to the rear wheels, two seats, open air^[1]. Everything else about the car has evolved across three generations and more than two decades.

The generations

The first-generation E85/E86 came as both a roadster and a coupe. The second, the E89, switched to a retractable hardtop that folds in about 10 seconds. The current G29, built since 2018, went back to a soft top^[1]. Along the way, production moved from Spartanburg, South Carolina to Regensburg, Germany in 2009, and powertrains have ranged from inline-fours to inline-sixes^[1].

The G29 today

The current car is a two-door soft-top roadster with outputs spanning 197 to 382 hp across the range^[1]. The headline variant is the M40i, which carries the B58B30 inline-six^[1] — the engine that gives the top Z4 its character, smooth in the way only a straight-six is. Transmissions across the run include a 6-speed manual alongside ZF’s 6HP and 8-speed 8HP automatics^[1], so the car served both the driver who wants to shift and the one who wants to cruise. Rear-wheel drive is the only configuration^[1], which keeps the roadster brief pure: power at the back, steering at the front, nothing filtered.

The G29 also has an unusual sibling: it shares its platform with the Toyota Supra, and both cars were built together in Austria^[1]. Same bones, two very different characters — the Supra took the fixed-roof, badge-heritage route, and the Z4 is the open-top interpretation of the pair.

Where it stands

BMW ended Z4 production in March 2026^[1], which makes the G29 the final chapter of the nameplate as it stands. For the model-by-model detail, see the full BMW Z4 database page. If reading about one is not enough, you can browse live Z4 listings and see how the three generations are priced against each other right now.