BMW Skytop Concept Leaked Ahead Of Villa d’Este Reveal

BMW has been teasing a new design concept to be unveiled at the glamourous Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance along with a new BMW Art Car, and a video of that concept has now leaked online. According to a now-deleted Reddit post, it seems that BMW itself accidentally shared the video with the public, which explains the high quality of the clip. The video also tells us the name of the concept: Skytop.

Earlier this month, CarBuzz discovered a BMW trademark for the name, filed with the German Patent and Trademark Office, but since BMW owns the Triumph brand and the now-defunct British automaker once offered a car going by that name, we incorrectly assumed that Munich was simply protecting existing names. Without any further ado, let’s gloss over that mistake and take a look at the video.

The Return Of The Shark Nose

The BMW Concept Skytop shows a familial resemblance to the current BMW 8 Series, which many consider to be the last truly beautiful modern Bimmer. But it’s also clearly something different, with taillights inspired by the Z8, a car that BMW Group Classic will celebrate the 25-year anniversary of at the prestigious event, which begins this Friday. Unlike the Z8, the sloped rear deck does not appear to open in order to swallow up the roof.

Instead, it appears that the targa convertible style is achieved with two manually removable roof panels. It would be odd to name this concept ‘Skytop’ and not have some clever way of stowing the roof behind the occupants, but we don’t see any shut lines suggesting a powered mechanism. We’ll just have to wait and see, and what we’ve observed so far already seems promising, with slimmer (illuminated) kidney grilles and a ‘shark nose’ front that creates the impression of forward motion even when the concept is stationary. To this writer’s eyes, this is what a modern Bimmer should look like, but the headlights and vented hood do call the Mustang Dark Horse to mind.

Concept Looks, But Apparent Production Considerations

While these looks are forward-thinking yet retro, and those wheels are likely too intricate for production, there are clues that this could become a real car. On the outside, wing mirrors are proportionately sized, and we can see a cover for a tow eye at the front and a rearview camera at the back. The entire center console looks like it was lifted from the current 8 Series, and the seats are straight out of the M8 (just with new crystal badges), as is the steering wheel. Cooling intakes for brakes and engine look real, and we can see real brakes behind the wheels, indicating that this is a rolling concept based on a production car and can run on its own power. Hood shutlines are another hint. The perforation and stitching of the leather cabin, however, may be toned down in a production car.

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But Will The BMW Concept Skytop Reach Production?

The paint, like that of the Concept Touring Coupe presented at Lake Como last year, appears to be rich, and the ombre effect on the rear deck is lovely, which leads us to the question of whether this will actually become available to buy. BMW was considering offering the Z4-based coupe in limited numbers at a ludicrous price, but those plans may have been abandoned. The Z4 is not a huge seller, and if we’re being honest, the 8 Series is a bit of a niche product, too. Moreover, the big grand tourer is getting long in the tooth. The 8 has its audience and will continue to be produced, but rumors over the past five years have continually reemerged, claiming that the 6 Series will return, potentially as a remix of the 4 and 8.

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With those thoughts in mind, we eagerly await BMW to announce what its goals for the Concept Skytop are. Our best guess is that this is no more than a design exercise for now, but if the response is favorable, these looks will probably find their way to the next 8 Series, whatever it’s called. In the meantime, BMW continues to tease the concept like nothing happened.