BMW Z1

The first example of a BMW Z1 was released by BMW to the press in 1986 and later officially presented at the 1987 Frankfurt Motor Show. Initial demand was so fierce that BMW had 5,000 orders before production began. Unfortunately, demand dropped significantly around 1988 and BMW ended production in 1991. There is speculation that this drop in demand was due to the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz SL (Brossaud, 1) and the early inflated demand from speculative investors. In 1988, however, BMW was quoted as saying that they had 35,000 orders for Z1s.

The BMW Z1 was designed over a three-year period by an in-house division of BMW Technik GmbH. The development of the Z1 is attributed to Dr. Ulrich Bez, not to forget the core of his team at BMW Technik GmbH (Alexander Pregl, Rudolf Müller, Lutz Janssen, Wolf-Henryk Menke, Dieter Schaffner, Klaus Faust, Sabine Zemelka and Stephan Stark). Control of the project was turned over to Dr. Klaus Faust when Bez left for Porsche in October, 1988.

BMW considered building an all-wheel drive model but this was later scrapped. (Brossaud, 1).

The BMW Z1 was used to develop and debut several technologies. Z1 designer Harm Lagaay mentioned that Z1 production helped generate patents for BMW's high-intensity discharge lamp, integrated roll-bar, door mechanism, and underbody tray.

Features
One unique quality about the Z1 is it's vertically retracting doors. The inspiration for these doors came from more traditional roadsters which often feature removable metal or cloth doors. Because removable doors did not fit within BMW's design goals, the retractable doors were installed instead. Because the body, with its high sills offers crash protection independent of the doors, the vehicle may be legally and safely driven with the doors up or down, although they are not legal in the U.S.

Production
As mentioned above, BMW only produced 8,000 Z1s. The vast majority of these (6,443) were sold in BMW's native German market. The country to receive the second-greatest number of Z1s, Italy, received less than 7% of the total sold domestically. BMW was reportedly unable to build more than 10–20 Z1s each day. None were initially sold in North America, although it is uncertain whether examples have been independently imported since the car's launch. There is at least one in Sarasota, FL.

There are reports that BMW built 12 Z1s during 1986 and 1987, bringing the total to 8,012 vehicles. However, most sources report the 8,000 figure.

More than half of all Z1s (specifically, 4,091) were produced for the 1990 model year. 78 Z1s were reportedly used as test mules, although most were later sold without a warranty and, presumably, at a lower price.

The Z1 was available in six exterior colors and four interior colors, although the vast majority (6,177) were red, black, or green with a dark-grey interior. Light yellow exterior (fun-gelb in German or fun yellow in English; 133 examples made) or red interior (38 examples made) are the rarest Z1 colors. The colors swimming pool blue and oh-so-orange were reserved for the car's designers, Bez and Lagaay.

Reportedly, some 1,101 Z1s were delivered without a factory radio installed. In these vehicles, BMWS AG installed an aftermarket radio in its place.

BMW Z1s officially imported to France for sale there have yellow headlights instead of the clear ones found elsewhere.