Jaw-Dropping BMW Speedtop Is a Limited-Production Shooting Brake
BMW unveiled the handsome Concept Speedtop at the 2025 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este in Italy.
The Speedtop is a shooting brake version of the Skytop revealed last year, pairing sharp styling with a leather-coated cabin.
Like the Skytop, the Speedtop will enter limited production, with 70 units planned.
BMW has a long history of unveiling concept cars at Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, the prestigious historic car show on the shores of Lake Como in Italy, and is back with another stunner this year. Following the 2024 Concept Skytop, BMW has now pulled the covers off the Concept Speedtop, essentially a shooting brake version of last year's convertible. And just like the 8-series-based Skytop, the Speedtop will enter limited production.
View Photos
BMW
The Speedtop largely shares its design language with the Skytop, with narrow slits for headlights and a pointed shark-nose front end. The illuminated kidney grille features the same horizontal strakes, while the same strong character line runs from the headlights to the taillights, creating muscular rear haunches. The main difference between the Speedtop and Skytop is the roofline, which now extends rearward to create a hatchback.
As on the Skytop, the hood features a spine that rises from the metal. On the Speedtop, this spine is emulated on the roof with a raised bar that flows into the rear spoiler. The roof also features a color gradient, with the paint shifting from the main Floating Sunstone Maroon hue to Floating Sundown Silver. The Speedtop rides on unique 14-spoke wheels with a two-tone finish and features hidden door handles that consist of an upturned chrome piece along the window trim.
View Photos
BMW
On the Inside
The cabin also looks almost identical to that of the Skytop, which in turn looks like the cabin from the 8-series coupe on which both limited-production cars are based. The Speedtop gets a two-tone interior with Sundown Maroon leather on the dashboard, center console, and upper door panels and Moonstone White leather on the seats and lower three-quarters of the doors. A thin strip of light embedded in the headliner mirrors the central spine on the roof, and several Speedtop badges adorn the cabin as a reminder of the car's special character.
The trunk is nearly as nice as the cabin, lined in leather and featuring the soft glow of LED lighting that wraps around the entire cargo hold. The Speedtop has no rear seats, instead featuring two shelves for bags, each with a leather strap to keep luggage in place. BMW worked with Italian leather-goods maker Schedoni to create matching bags for these compartments, as well as a larger duffel bag for the trunk.
BMW
View Photos
BMW
BMW didn't reveal much about what is going on under the Speedtop's dramatic sheetmetal, simply stating that it features the "most powerful V-8 engine currently offered by BMW." Extrapolating from what we know about the Skytop, that likely means that the Speedtop features a 617-hp twin-turbocharged 4.4-liter V-8, connected to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.
While production of the Skytop was limited to 50 units, BMW will build 70 examples of the Speedtop and said the order books are now open. There's no official word on price, but the Skytop was rumored to cost over $500,000, and we imagine the Speedtop will be priced similarly.
Caleb Miller
Associate News Editor
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
an hour ago
- Bloomberg
Porsche Mulls Doing Some Final Assembly in US to Ease Tariff Hit
Porsche AG is considering shifting certain last parts of its model assembly to the US as a way to blunt the impact of Donald Trump's tariffs on imported vehicles, according to people familiar with the matter. The Volkswagen AG controlled sports-car maker could move steps of the final assembly process, such as the installation of interior components or the fitting of tires, to a US location from Germany, said the people familiar with Chief Executive Officer Oliver Blume's thinking. Porsche currently doesn't produce any cars in the US, leaving it highly exposed to the tariffs.
an hour ago
Billion-dollar battery plant pauses construction amid electric vehicle and tariff uncertainty
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A Japanese company has halted construction on a $1.6 billion factory in South Carolina to help make batteries for electric BMWs, citing 'policy and market uncertainty.' While AESC didn't specify what those problems are, South Carolina's Republican governor said the company is dealing with the potential loss of federal tax breaks for electric vehicle buyers and incentives for EV businesses as well as tariff uncertainties from President Donald Trump's administration. 'What we're doing is urging caution — let things play out because all of the these changes are taking place,' Gov. Henry McMaster said. AESC announced the suspension in construction of its plant in Florence on Thursday, 'Due to policy and market uncertainty, we are pausing construction at our South Carolina facility at this time," the company's statement said. AESC promised to restart construction, although it didn't say when, and vowed to meet its commitment to hire 1,600 workers and invest $1.6 billion. The company said it has already invested $1 billion in the Florence plant. The battery maker based in Japan also has facilities in China, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. In the U.S., AESC has a plant in Tennessee and is building one in Kentucky. The statement didn't mention any changes with other plants. The South Carolina plant is supposed to sell battery cells to BMW, which is building its own battery assembly site near its giant auto plant in Greer. BMW said the construction pause by AESC doesn't change its plans to open its plant in 2026. AESC has already rolled back its South Carolina plans. They announced a second factory on the Florence site, but then said earlier this year that their first plant should be able to handle BMW's demand. That prompted South Carolina officials to withdraw $111 million in help they planned to provide. The company is still getting $135 million in grants from the South Carolina Department of Commerce and $121 million in bonds and the agency said a construction pause won't prompt them to claw back that offer. South Carolina is investing heavily in electric vehicles. Volkswagen-owned Scout Motors plans to invest more than $4 billion and hire 10,000 people for a plant to build its new electric SUVs scheduled to open in 2027. The state has for decades made big bets on foreign manufacturers like BMW, Michelin and Samsung that have paid off with an economic boom this century, but there is uneasiness that Trump's flirtation with high tariffs might stagger or even ruin those important partnerships. McMaster told people to relax as state and business leaders are talking to Trump's administration and things will work out. 'I think the goal of the president and the administration is to have robust economic growth and prosperity and there is no doubt there has to be changes made in our international trade posture and President Trump is addressing that,' McMaster told reporters Thursday.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Billion-dollar battery plant pauses construction amid electric vehicle and tariff uncertainty
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — A Japanese company has halted construction on a $1.6 billion factory in South Carolina to help make batteries for electric BMWs, citing 'policy and market uncertainty.' While Automotive Energy Supply Corp. didn't specify what those problems are, South Carolina's Republican governor said the company is dealing with the potential loss of federal tax breaks for electric vehicle buyers and incentives for EV businesses as well as tariff uncertainties from President Donald Trump's administration. 'What we're doing is urging caution — let things play out because all of the these changes are taking place,' Gov. Henry McMaster said. AESC announced the suspension in construction of its plant in Florence on Thursday, 'Due to policy and market uncertainty, we are pausing construction at our South Carolina facility at this time," the company's statement said. AESC promised to restart construction, although it didn't say when, and vowed to meet its commitment to hire 1,600 workers and invest $1.6 billion. The company said it has already invested $1 billion in the Florence plant. The battery maker based in Japan also has facilities in China, the United Kingdom, France, Spain and Germany. In the U.S., AESC has a plant in Tennessee and is building one in Kentucky. The statement didn't mention any changes with other plants. The South Carolina plant is supposed to sell battery cells to BMW, which is building its own battery assembly site near its giant auto plant in Greer. BMW said the construction pause by AESC doesn't change its plans to open its plant in 2026. AESC has already rolled back its South Carolina plans. They announced a second factory on the Florence site, but then said earlier this year that their first plant should be able to handle BMW's demand. That prompted South Carolina officials to withdraw $111 million in help they planned to provide. The company is still getting $135 million in grants from the South Carolina Department of Commerce and $121 million in bonds and the agency said a construction pause won't prompt them to claw back that offer. South Carolina is investing heavily in electric vehicles. Volkswagen-owned Scout Motors plans to invest more than $4 billion and hire 10,000 people for a plant to build its new electric SUVs scheduled to open in 2027. The state has for decades made big bets on foreign manufacturers like BMW, Michelin and Samsung that have paid off with an economic boom this century, but there is uneasiness that Trump's flirtation with high tariffs might stagger or even ruin those important partnerships. McMaster told people to relax as state and business leaders are talking to Trump's administration and things will work out. 'I think the goal of the president and the administration is to have robust economic growth and prosperity and there is no doubt there has to be changes made in our international trade posture and President Trump is addressing that,' McMaster told reporters Thursday.
