Never made but not forgotten
BMW has a long list of impressive production cars, but there are also a considerable number of interesting, exciting models that didn’t make it into showrooms.
Here are some of the BMWs that never made it down the production line, from some that were pulled at the last possible moment to others that were sunk without trace.
All of these nearly-cars help chart the development of the marque’s history, plus many pointed to future models and technology.
The cars are presented in chronological order.
1. 1949 BMW 331
As BMW got back on its feet after the Second World War, the company was looking for direction as it came up with new models to replace the warmed-over, pre-war cars in its range.
The 331, also known as the 531, was proposed by chief engineer Alfred Böning, based on his feeling that an economy car would be what customers wanted at the time.
A 600cc BMW motorcycle engine was used in the prototype, with a four-speed gearbox and styling similar to the 327’s.
Much as this made sense, and it was economy cars that eventually put BMW on a firm financial footing in the late 1950s, Böning was overruled and the luxury 501 was given the go-ahead instead.
2. 1963 BMW 700 by Colani
BMW claimed the 700 by Colani was the world’s first plastic monocoque car, although Lotus and Rochdale had already achieved this by 1963.
Like the Lotus, the Luigi Colani-styled coupé coupled light weight with an aerodynamic shape to get the very best performance from its modest powerplant, which was a 697cc flat-twin engine from the 700 Coupé.
With an all-up weight of 440kg (970lb), the Colani car was capable of 125mph thanks to the low weight and drag coefficient of 0.22Cd.
Despite clever ideas such as the dash bar that helped add strength to the body, the 700 by Colani was too radical for BMW at the time and remained a prototype.
3. 1967 BMW Glas 3000 V8
Pietro Frua has a long-running association with Glas and this continued after BMW bought the smaller company in 1966.
Based on the Glas 3000 V8, this fastback coupé shape by Frua was clearly popular with BMW’s management, because it appeared at the Frankfurt and Paris motor shows in 1967, again at Geneva in 1968 and then at Barcelona in 1969.
In a bid to give the idea there was more than one of this car, BMW painted it red for the Barcelona show from its original metallic blue.
Well received as the 158bhp coupé was, it did not go into production, because BMW decided to concentrate on its 3.0 CS coupé.
However, the Frua car was sold after the Barcelona show and survives to this day.
4. 1967 Bayer K67
BMW joined with plastics innovator Covestro, which was part of the Bayer group of companies at the time, to create the K67.
Designed by Hans Gugelot, it pioneered polyurethane body panels that made it corrosion-free and easier to repair for minor knocks.
While the K67 also had other innovations, such as indicators integrated into the wing mirrors, the car had conventional mechanical parts from a 2000 CS.
However, the K67 weighed just 850kg (c1870lb) thanks to its plastic bodywork and had a claimed 118mph top speed.
A total of five prototypes were built and displayed, but it remained on the shelf as far as production was concerned.
5. 1969 BMW 2002 GT4
Another BMW concept designed by Petro Frua, this handsome coupé was based on the 2002 and clearly shows what the designer had in mind for the 5 Series saloon that he went on to shape.
Only two 2002 GT4s were made, with one now in Japan and the other in BMW’s Mobile Tradition collection.
Frua clearly had an eye on the car making it to production because, besides the 2002 ti platform and mechanical parts, it lifted the interior from the E3 saloon.
There were also rear lights from an Alfa Romeo and Campagnolo wheels, but even this car’s desirable looks couldn’t convince BMW’s board to add it to the 2002 range.
6. 1970 BMW 2200ti Garmisch
As BMW moved into the new decade, Bertone took the opportunity to show its idea of how the German firm’s cars should look with the 2200ti Garmisch.
Unveiled at the 1970 Geneva Auto Salon, the Garmisch had some show-car flourishes such as the hexagonal rear-window blind design and deep drawer for a glovebox. However, the majority of its styling looked production-ready.
BMW was certainly interested in the proposal and the Garmisch was due to be delivered to the company’s Munich headquarters.
However, it’s thought the car disappeared on the journey there and it has never been seen since. The result is no production version of the Garmisch was ever built.
7. 1972 BMW E25 turbo
By 1972, BMW was looking at all sorts of ideas for the future, including electric power.
However, the gullwing-doored E25 turbo designed by Paul Bracq was its most eye-catching offering and was built to mark the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, BMW’s home town.
A mid-mounted version of the 2002 turbo’s engine produced 276bhp, which BMW said gave a 155mph top speed and 0-62mph in 6.6 secs.
This was impressive for the time and BMW built two E25 turbos.
While it didn’t go into production in this form, the styling and engineering influence of the E25 is clear to see in the M1 supercar that followed in 1978.
8. 1975 BMW 3.0 Si Coupé
As BMW brought its design in-house, stylists such as Pietro Frua found themselves more and more on the margins.
The Italian tried to tempt BMW with the 3.0 Si Coupé in 1975, with its sharply angular looks and part-covered headlights.
While Frua’s design had obvious links to what BMW would offer with its production cars that followed, the German firm was uninterested in the 3.0Si Coupé and it remained a good-looking but redundant concept.
9. 1986 BMW M3 pick-up
Was the E30 M3 pick-up ever seriously considered for production by BMW?
Probably not, but the car was officially sanctioned to be built and its real purpose was to give the firm’s apprentices an intriguing project to work on.
The pick-up was based on an M3 Convertible bodyshell, because it already had sufficient strengthening, while the roll hoop of the pick-up added more bracing.
The M3 engine and other mechanical parts were unaltered, but the bodywork reverted to standard E30 3 Series wings.
The car ended up being used around the BMW factory to transport parts for 26 years, before entering the company’s museum.
10. 1987 BMW 750iL ‘Goldfisch’
Looking to outdo Jaguar and Mercedes-Benz with their V12 engines, BMW decided to go four better with a V16 motor to try in its flagship 7 Series.
Nicknamed the ‘Goldfisch’ because of the gills in its flanks to feed the rear-mounted radiator, the car was based on a 750iL.
Some claim the engine was created by mating two BMW V8 motors, but it seems more likely the V16 was built by stretching the company’s existing V12 by a third.
The result was a 6.7-litre V16 which used a manual gearbox to cope with the performance, and it could power the E32 7 Series to 174mph.
In the end, BMW reckoned the market was too small for this car and that was the end of the line for it.
11. 1989 BMW M5 Cabriolet
One of the great what-ifs for BMW is the E34 M5 Cabriolet.
The only one built is in the company’s museum collection, and looks to all intents and purposes ready to be delivered to a dealer showroom in 1989.
The conversion to a two-door body is immaculately rendered and the roof stows neatly below the rear deck to leave a clean side profile.
The reason the M5 Convertible looks production-ready is because BMW was all set to launch it as an addition to the 5 Series range at the 1989 Geneva show.
However, a last-second panic that it would undermine highly profitable 3 Series Convertible sales saw the M5 drop-top pulled at the final moment and production plans scrapped.
12. 1990 BMW 850Ci Cabriolet
BMW saw its new 850Ci as a serious rival to Ferrari’s line-up and part of this thinking was to add a convertible model to the 8 Series range.
The two-door body of the 850Ci leant itself to this conversion very well, and the folding fabric roof of the prototype stowed neatly behind the rear seat and left an uncluttered profile.
Work had started on the 850Ci drop-top in 1989 and was building towards a launch in late 1990 or early 1991.
However, the global recession that hit at the beginning of the 1990s put paid to BMW’s plans, because it feared sales wouldn’t cover the cost of development, even though the car was poised and ready for production.
13. 1990 BMW M8
BMW gave a glimpse of what was possible with the E31 8 Series with the 850CSi and its 375bhp V12 engine.
However, the M8 would have been on an altogether higher-performance plain.
Its 6-litre development of the BMW V12 produced 632bhp and was attached to a six-speed manual gearbox. Top speed was reckoned to be 190mph.
Other changes for the M8 were replacing the standard 8 Series’ pop-up headlights with fixed units integrated into the bumper.
Flared wheelarches were needed to cover the wider tyres, and at the back was a small spoiler blended into the boot.
It all looked so promising but, like the convertible 8 Series, BMW decided a global recession meant there would be too few buyers to warrant putting the M8 into production.
14. 1991 BMW E1
Long before BMW added its i3 to its range, the company experimented with electric cars as far back as the 1960s.
The E1 was a much more serious look at offering a compact electric vehicle with a 37kW motor and driving range of up to 125 miles. Its top speed was 75mph, so the E1’s figures don’t look out of place in today’s EV market.
The four-seat cabin offered plenty of room for occupants with the battery positioned under the rear bench.
Power was to the rear wheels and BMW’s test drivers reported the E1 was good to drive on the road.
However, with no great incentive to offer an EV at the time and very limited customer demand, the E1 didn’t make production, but it did generate a second prototype in the Z15 of 1993.
15. 1991 BMW Nazca M12
Given BMW’s involvement with the McLaren F1 that was due for launch in 1992, the Nazca M12 was an unusual choice of car to exhibit at the Geneva show in 1991.
A mid-engined, V12-powered supercar, it had the looks and specification to appear as a potential rival to the British-designed, BMW-powered F1.
Perhaps conscious of this, BMW’s M12 stuck with a c300bhp 5-litre V12 from the 850i, though with a kerbweight of 1100kg (2425lb), the M12 would have been a quick car.
It also had a drag coefficient of just 0.26Cd from its Fabrizio Giugiaro-penned shape.
BMW followed it with the Nazca C2 coupé and C2 Spider prototypes, but none found their way into production.
16. 1994 BMW Fun Car
With affordable open-top sports cars firmly back on the menu in the 1990s, BMW was playing catch-up.
To address this, it ran a competition for design students to come up with a Fun Car that combined the benefits of a motorcycle with the safety of a car, which also neatly joined together BMW’s two manufacturing arms of cars and ’bikes.
Tilo Klumpp’s asymmetric design was the winner with its low-set, swoopy looks and passenger cockpit that extended further forward than the driver’s.
The pointed nose was another standout feature that still incorporated the BMW kidney grilles, but the Fun Car remained no more than a mock-up, as BMW shied away from a Lotus Elise contender and went on to make the Z3 as a safer bet.
17. 1995 BMW Z18
BMW’s GS ’bike was a big hit with its combination of off-road ability and sporting on-road manners, so why not try the same with a car?
The result was the Z18, which predated BMW’s first proper SUV by four years.
This open-top two-seat 4x4 used a plastic body to save weight and resist knocks when driven on narrow tracks.
Power for the Z18 came from BMW’s trusty V8 engine with 350bhp, but even that wasn’t enough to make BMW’s board think this was a project to take into production.
However, the centrally mounted dash instrument layout was recycled for the Z8 roadster.
18. 1996 BMW M3 Compact
If the BMW E36 M3 was a great car, the thinking followed that a smaller, lighter version would be even better.
This was the inspiration for BMW to try out the M3 Compact, which married the three-door hatch’s body with the hardware from its six-cylinder performance car.
To justify trying out the idea, BMW agreed to build a single M3 Compact to mark the 50th anniversary of German car magazine Auto Motor und Sport.
Using the 3.2-litre M3 Evo engine, the Compact plundered the M3 parts bin for its dashboard and alloy wheels, and there were Recaro front seats.
It also had the unique feature of quad exhaust pipes, which no other M3 boasted at the time.
19. 1996 BMW ZBF 7er
If you thought BMW’s oversized kidney grilles were a recent styling idea, think again – they were first seen on the 1996 ZBF 7er.
Larger than the contemporary E38 7 Series, the ZBF (Zukunft BMW Famile, or Future BMW Family) explored the theme of extreme luxury before the German firm bought Rolls-Royce.
The ZBF was styled by Joji Nagashima, who had designed the Z3, and used hand-formed body panels and 20in tyres when the largest off-the-peg size was 19in.
Other futuristic ideas were cameras in place of door mirrors and flush doorhandles, plus an early form of BMW’s iDrive for the rear-seat occupants.
The ZBF didn’t make production, but much of its cabin design was incorporated into the Chris Bangle-styled E65 7 Series of 2001.
20. 1999 BMW M5 Touring
BMW has had an on-off relationship with estate versions of its M5.
There were E34 and E61 variants with, respectively, straight-six and V10 engines, but the V8-powered E39 model missed out on a Touring body.
Given the relative ease with which this model could have been added to the range, it seems like a missed goal.
BMW did build one E39 M5 Touring, finished in silver with a black interior, that now sits in its museum.
However, a production model was deemed too small a seller to be worthwhile, despite the estate cars that bookended it doing very well.
21. 2000 BMW M3 Touring
Another BMW performance estate car from the turn of the millennium that failed to make an appearance regardless of the clamour from BMW M car fanatics.
The E46 M3 was brilliant in every respect in coupé and convertible form, but anyone with a family was left out of it because there was no saloon or Touring estate-car version.
BMW did produce a sole M3 Touring for evaluation and the main concern was fitting the beefier M3 rear axle, while maintaining the estate’s load-carrying ability.
The car was finished in Chrome Shadow metallic paint with a unique two-tone interior using a material called F1.
However, financial considerations put a lid on any further development of this much-anticipated BMW M3 model.
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