As I promised, I am back with more photos of the all new 2009 BMW Z4. Also, I mentioned in my previous article that I had an interesting chat with Julia Blasi, BMW Z4 Exterior Designer.
First I would like to say that she’s very approachable and a pleasure to talk to. We jumped right into the discussion about the new BMW Z4 and I found out that her team started to work on the Z4 in 2005. So nearly four years later and we finally had a chance to see the result of her work: the newest BMW roadster, Z4.
After complimenting her design, she simply asked me if I think the car has a feminine look. It made me chuckle a bit but I quickly responded that the new Z4 is far from being a “chicks car” and it will never be perceived that way. I soon found out that the BMW Z8 played an important role in the design of the new Z4, same as with the interior design.
She went on explaining how a roadster should always be represented by a long massive hood and small rear-end. Afterward, I let her explain the Z4 design for us, from the crease which starts behind the door handle and moves up towards the A-pillar, to the two side creases coming from the back of the car all the way to the front.
Asking her about the decision of moving the BMW roundel from the hood to the front bumper, she decided to show me directly on the car’s hood why she chose it that way. The hood has two central creases which end before reaching the hood front cut line, forming a small V shape, and this is where the BMW roundel is sitting.
We continued to chit-chat about her being in the video on BMW-web.tv in which she talked about the Z4 and I mentioned how our readers were fascinated by it. First thing that I noticed was that she is as passionate about the Z4 as she was in the video, she talks about the car with great enthusiasm and pride.
But, she was a bit sad, she has never had the chance to drive her own “baby”, which I found it to be pretty interesting, a designer does not necessary gets to drive the car for a while after it’s released. She also told me that she has seen the car in final production shape just a few months ago, until then, her clay model was all she would see around.
At the end I mentioned how you, our readers, would like her to design more cars in the future and I was told that she is currently working on another project, but of course..no details can be revealed. I also wanted to find out more about the Progressive Activity Sedan and mentioned the word PAS, but to my surprise, she told me that not all the designing teams know what the others are working on.
And if you haven’t realized yet how much attention to details BMW pays, then this should give you a better idea: asked why the beautiful Deep Sea Blue sDrive35i wasn’t placed in the middle of the BMW’s show floor, she pointed out the very light colored hardwood floors would have make the Orion Silver sDrive30i blend in too much within, rather than standing out. A detail that many of us would have missed.
Right before saying goodbye, she offered to introduce me to Nadya Arnaud, the talented interior designer, but I will follow up with another article based on my conversation with Nadya.
So, to go back to the photos I promised I will post, here they are, enjoy them since I believe they are much better than the first ones I posted.
P.S If anyone would like to post these photos on other forums, we just ask you to link back to us, especially since we didn’t add any watermarks on them.
