Story

The Z4 Coupe BMW Never Built—Rendered in Carbon Fiber and What-Ifs

BMW once sold a Z4 Coupe—the squat, polarizing E86 that enthusiasts now remember fondly, if not unanimously. Fast-forward to the current G29 generation and the idea of a fixed-roof Z4 quietly died on the product-planning table. No metal top. No shooting-brake redemption arc. Just a soft-top roadster sharing its bones with the Toyota Supra.

And yet, at SEMA of all places, someone decided that wasn’t good enough.

What rolled onto the show floor wasn’t a concept sketch or a corporate tease, but a fully realized one-off that blurs the already fuzzy line between Munich and Toyota City. Think of it as the Z4 Coupe BMW never built—by way of a Supra donor car and a face swap that answers a question nobody in a boardroom wanted to ask.

At its core, this creation is Toyota’s GR Supra, but with a BMW nose grafted on like an alternate-universe OEM option. The result looks surprisingly cohesive, which is both impressive and mildly irritating if you’re the kind of enthusiast who still wonders why these cars weren’t offered in both body styles to begin with. BMW roundels replace Toyota badges, a carbon-fiber engine cover wears M Power branding with the familiar tri-color stripes, and the aftermarket hits are unapologetically loud: 20-inch BBS wheels, quad exhaust outlets, and enough visual drama to stop foot traffic.

The mashup unintentionally highlights one of the strangest product decisions of the modern sports-car era. The Z4 is roadster-only, complete with a folding fabric roof. The Supra? Coupe-only. Same platform. Same factory—Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria. Different philosophies. Officially, no one ever explained why. Unofficially, it smells like internal cannibalization paranoia. Toyota may have worried a Z4 Coupe would steal Supra thunder, while BMW likely feared a convertible Supra nibbling at Z4 sales. The result was a gentleman’s agreement that left enthusiasts shortchanged on both sides.

BMW did flirt with the idea of fixing that mistake. The 2023 Concept Touring Coupe—more modern clownshoe than traditional two-door—proved the company knew exactly what it was doing, stylistically speaking. Rumors of a limited 50-car run at around €250,000 swirled for months before quietly evaporating. The Z4 M40i-based coupe never escaped the concept-car purgatory where good ideas go to die.

Now it’s 2026, and the clock is running out. Both the Z4 and Supra are heading toward retirement, with final production wrapping up soon at Magna Steyr’s Graz plant. BMW isn’t committing to another Z4, while Toyota insists the Supra will return someday—presumably without BMW DNA in its bloodstream.

This isn’t a clean breakup, though. BMW and Toyota are still very much talking, just about hydrogen instead of horsepower. The upcoming 2028 BMW iX5 60H xDrive will use a fuel-cell system co-developed with Toyota, proof that the partnership lives on even as the sports cars fade away.

Toyota, for its part, isn’t done playing. A GR GT supercar with a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 is already in the works, and executives keep teasing the return of icons like the MR2 and Celica. BMW, meanwhile, is retreating to safer ground, focusing on high-volume models and letting the M2 and an upcoming gas-powered next-gen M3 (internally known as G84) carry the enthusiast banner.

Which makes this SEMA-built Z4/Supra hybrid feel less like a novelty and more like a missed opportunity cast in carbon fiber. It’s not just a cool one-off—it’s a reminder of what happens when enthusiasts imagine the cars that corporate caution wouldn’t allow.

Photos: mysupraadventures / Instagram

News

Skywell BE11 Gets a Second Chance: More Tech, Less Money, Fewer Excuses

When Skywell launched the BE11 in the UK late last year, it arrived with the confidence of a disruptor and the road manners of a rough first draft. The pitch was solid enough: an electric SUV roughly the size of a Nissan Ariya or Skoda Enyaq, priced about £3000 less, from a new Chinese brand with serious industrial backing. The execution, however, didn’t land. Reviewers were unconvinced, owners were vocal, and the BE11 quickly earned a reputation for feeling unfinished.

Now Skywell is back with what it calls a “comprehensive revision” for the 2026 model year. Translation: the BE11 has been sent back to the editor with red pen marks all over it. The changes don’t amount to a full rewrite, but they do address many of the car’s most obvious flaws—and they’re sweetened by a £5000 price cut that makes the BE11 harder to ignore.

Skywell, for the uninitiated, is a joint venture between Skyworth—one of the world’s largest consumer electronics groups—and Chinese electric bus specialist Nanjing Golden Dragon. That pedigree suggested technical competence, but early road tests told a different story. Autocar, for example, handed the BE11 a brutal two-star rating, citing mediocre efficiency, an unrefined ride, numb steering, and an infotainment system that felt more like a prototype than a production interface. In a market flooded with polished EVs, “sub-par” is not a word you want associated with your debut model.

Crucially, Skywell hasn’t torn up the mechanical blueprint. The BE11 still rides on the same basic platform, still uses a single front-mounted motor producing 201bhp, and still offers two battery options. The Standard Range version carries a 72kWh NMC battery good for a claimed 248 miles, while the Long Range model ups capacity to 86kWh and stretches that figure to 303 miles. On paper, nothing here moves the segment’s goalposts.

Where Skywell has focused its efforts is on comfort, usability, and—most conspicuously—technology. The headline change is the addition of advanced driver assistance systems, which were notably absent from the original car. Adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and lane-keeping assistance now come as part of the package. According to Skywell, much of this system was developed and tuned on UK roads, an important detail if it translates into smoother, less intrusive calibration.

The absence of ADAS on the original BE11 wasn’t an oversight so much as a timing loophole. The car completed European type approval before July 2024, meaning it wasn’t required to meet the EU’s GSR2 regulations that now mandate such safety tech. That might have made regulatory sense, but in real-world terms it made the BE11 feel outdated the moment it arrived. This update closes that gap decisively.

Inside, Skywell has also addressed some of the day-to-day annoyances that early adopters complained about. Heated and ventilated front seats are now available, the driver’s seat gains electric adjustment, and USB-C ports are more generously scattered throughout the cabin. A 360-degree parking camera joins the options list, and buyers can now spec a much larger 15.6-inch central touchscreen—an acknowledgment that in this class, screen size still sells cars.

Whether the revised infotainment software itself is genuinely more intuitive remains the unanswered question. Hardware is easy; user experience is harder. Skywell claims improvements, but this is one area where the BE11 will live or die once reviewers get back behind the wheel.

Then there’s the price cut, which may be the most persuasive change of all. The Standard Range BE11 now starts at £31,990, down from £36,995. That drop repositions the Skywell as a genuine value alternative rather than a budget curiosity. At this price, its generous interior space—still one of its strongest attributes—becomes a much more compelling selling point.

Skywell’s UK operations are handled by Gloucestershire-based importer Innovation Automotive, and for a new brand trying to establish trust, that local presence matters. So does the willingness to listen. This update reads less like a routine facelift and more like a public admission that the original car missed the mark.

The BE11 still won’t trouble the best-driving EVs in the class, and it’s unlikely to win over enthusiasts with its steering feel or chassis finesse. But with more tech, more comfort, and a significantly lower asking price, it finally feels competitive rather than compromised.

In other words, Skywell hasn’t reinvented the BE11—but it has fixed enough of the footnotes to make the main story worth another read.

Source: Skywell

NEW CARS

The Audi Q2 e-Tron Could Be Your Next Choice

Remember the Audi A2? Not the RS models or the big-grille sedans that dominate Ingolstadt’s greatest-hits album, but the oddball aluminum jellybean from the early 2000s—the one that looked like it escaped from a wind tunnel and sipped fuel like it was rationed. Back then, the A2 was Audi doing the future a little too early. Lightweight aluminum spaceframe, obsessive aero thinking, and a 1.2-liter diesel that could stretch a gallon to nearly 80 mpg. Buyers didn’t quite know what to do with it. History, however, has been kinder.

Fast-forward nearly three decades, and Audi appears ready to dust off that same forward-thinking playbook—this time with electrons instead of diesel. Enter the upcoming Q2 e-Tron, a compact electric crossover (or tall hatch, depending on how honest you’re feeling) that effectively replaces the outgoing gasoline Q2 and becomes the new entry point to Audi’s EV lineup.

If that sounds familiar, it should. Like the A2 before it, the Q2 e-Tron looks positioned to be a clever, efficiency-minded alternative to the premium status quo—just wrapped in a more contemporary, SUV-adjacent silhouette.

A Tall Hatch With a Memory

Based on early spy shots and illustrations, the Q2 e-Tron wears its proportions proudly. The upright stance echoes the A2’s practical, space-first philosophy, but Audi has sharpened the edges. The windshield is more aggressively raked, the roofline tapers decisively into the C-pillar, and the overall shape leans closer to “hatchback on stilts” than the chunkier crossover look of the current Q2.

Up front, Audi’s latest lighting trickery takes center stage. Slim micro-LED daytime running lights sit high and wide, while the main headlamp units are pushed lower into the bumper—a familiar Audi EV move by now. The closed-off grille is framed by crisp creases and angular intakes, giving the smallest e-Tron a face that looks confident rather than apologetic.

Around back, the designers seem to be having a little fun. A high-mounted spoiler visually splits the rear glass—a clear nod to the old A2—and a full-width LED light bar modernizes the tailgate. It’s playful by Audi standards, which is to say: restrained, but intentional.

Familiar Audi, Just Smaller—and Smarter

Inside, expect fewer surprises. The Q2 e-Tron should closely follow the digital-first design language already seen in the Q3 and Q5. A curved digital instrument cluster pairs with a central MMI touchscreen, and Audi’s AI-based voice assistant is expected to be standard fare. Yes, that means downloadable apps, streaming services, and navigation that updates itself while you’re still arguing with your passengers about lunch.

Despite its compact footprint, the EV architecture should pay dividends in space efficiency. A flat floor opens up the cabin, and while cargo volume won’t threaten the class leaders, it’s expected to come in just shy of the Q4 e-Tron’s 520 liters—respectable numbers for something wearing a “smallest Audi EV” label.

Audi is also expected to lean into sustainability here, with recycled and eco-friendly trim options, ambient lighting, and a full suite of Level 2 driver-assist systems rounding out the spec sheet.

MEB+, More Muscle, More Miles

Under the skin, the Q2 e-Tron is set to ride on Volkswagen Group’s updated MEB+ platform. Think of it as MEB 2.0: stiffer, more efficient, and capable of faster charging than the hardware underpinning today’s ID.4s and Q4 e-Trons.

Early technical whispers suggest a front-wheel-drive base model making around 201 horsepower, fed by a 63-kWh battery good for roughly 250 miles of range. Step up the ladder and outputs could climb past 268 horsepower, with a larger battery pushing WLTP range figures toward a very respectable 348 miles.

Quattro variants with dual motors are also on the table, aimed at buyers who live where winter is a lifestyle rather than a season. And because this is Audi, you can safely assume someone in Neckarsulm is already sketching RS badges in the margins.

Small EV, Big Competition

Whether Audi ultimately revives the A2 name or sticks with Q2 e-Tron branding, this car will land in a crowded—and increasingly competitive—segment. Rivals include the Volvo EX30, BMW iX1, Smart #1, Mini Aceman, and Alfa Romeo Junior, all vying to prove that small, premium EVs don’t have to feel like compromises.

Early rumors pointed to a 2027 debut, but newer reports suggest Audi could pull the covers off as soon as the second half of next year, with production staying close to home in Germany.

If the original A2 was a car that arrived before the market was ready, the Q2 e-Tron might be landing at exactly the right moment. Smaller, smarter, and more efficient EVs are finally what buyers are asking for—and Audi seems keen to remind us that it’s been thinking this way all along.

Source: Audi

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