BMW confirms V8-powered Skytop for production

Well, this is a nice surprise. After having ‘sent waves of excitement through the assembled connoisseurs and automotive aficionados’ at its Villa d’Este concours debut earlier this year, the BMW Concept Skytop will be put into limited production. Much like the 2022 3.0 CSL, the volume will be small – just 50 units – and the price will likely be very high indeed. But it’s a great-looking BMW, with a proper engine in it, that will make the light of day and probably look even more spectacular in real life. Or however close to real-life cars like this get. That feels like good news. 

Because the Skytop was intended to reference the old Z8 in its look, the concept had to have a V8 – and so will the production car. Using the M8’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo (we’ll assume quite a few important buts come from the big GT), the Skytop is 625hp strong, which should get it to 62mph in 3.3 seconds. Not that you’ll want to leave the admiring gazes in too much of a hurry, of course.

Given this car is now known as the BMW Skytop yet looks identical to the car that had the ‘Concept’ tag (shame there wasn’t a better name put forward, really), it seems likely that pretty much everything about the Villa d’Este machine will make it to the 50. Certainly would explain why the interior looked so production-ready in Italy, even with the crystals and brogue-style seats – BMW must always have intended to make a few.

Still, plenty of features more special than the usual dash look set to be included, including the winglets instead of door handles, the finned wheels and the slimmest profile LED lights currently made. As well as the leather covered rollover bar, leather trimmed soft top, and designated stowage section for the removable roof (probably also leather). 

Presumably the Skytop will only be available in one specification, particularly given the hand-applied gradient for the paint. The colour itself is Floating Sundown Silver, the roof described as ‘reddish brown’. Perhaps some deviation from that will be allowed for very special customers, but when it looks this good already it’d be easy to understand BMW making them all the same.

The announcement of production was made in Milan at a showcase for the Skytop. Adrian van Hooydonk said: “The BMW Skytop is a truly exotic design and offers a combination of driving dynamics and elegance at the highest level… “To finally be able to announce that this car will be built is like a dream come true. Thank you for the very positive response around the globe and to the passionate team that worked on the project.” What happens next isn’t clear; you’d imagine in a world that caters so well to billionaire’s playthings that the Skytops won’t be available for very long. Then it’ll be a case of building the 50, which won’t be the work of a moment given the amount of unique elements. Likely it’ll seem well worth the wait for the lucky few.