There will be no BMW Z2 – well not in the next decade anyway! An insider at the German firm quashed our hopes that a smaller, cheaper baby brother to the Z4 was due in the next few years. God damn him.

“Everyone in the motoring media seems to be talking about this car but it’s not on my product plan and that lists the forthcoming models for the next 10 years,” he told us.
 
Of course, a Z2 could be under consideration but not actually signed off. After all, only those projects which have been given the green light are included on a manufacturer’s product plan.
 
But our insider said he hadn’t even heard any ‘internal gossip’ about the Z2. “Even if such a car was being discussed, and I’m not aware that it is, there is no way it could be brought into production in the time scale a lot of people are suggesting. It takes far longer than two years to sign-off a car, test it, set up tooling and build the thing.”
 
A lot of speculators have been rationalising that BMW desperately needs a cheaper four-cylinder-powered sports car to fill the gap left by the fact the Z4 now starts at around £5,000 more than its predecessor.
 
However, this is not the case. Our insider explained: “We have the 1-Series convertible. It’s a drop top, has rear wheel drive, is sporty and comes in at just over £22,000. Why would we need to invest a lot of cash in building a niche car like the Z2? It doesn’t make sense in these uncertain times.”

Related:

• BMW says no to building a Z4M
• New BMW Z4 review