BMWBLOG is attending the 2024 Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este where the Skytop celebrates its world premiere this weekend. The one-off design wonder from Munich continues to amaze the crowds gathered on Lake Como in Italy. Without looking at the interior, even the diehard fan can’t realize the concept is based on an 8 Series Convertible.
As is usually the case with modern BMWs, the Skytop looks better in the metal. It’s honestly been a while since we’ve seen such clean lines on a car from Bavaria. With only two seats and a manually removable hard top, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill G14. It also has a flat rear window that slides down electrically at the push of a button.
With the Skytop, BMW wanted to revisit some of its greatest design hits by taking cues from the Z8 and 503. It’s been a minute since we’ve seen a sharknose theme on a car, even if it’s just a concept. A limited production run isn’t ruled out but for now, this is officially a one-of-a-kind affair. Those tiny winglets mounted on the door shoulders would work on just about any car to smooth out the profile.
Then there’s the bespoke paint. We’ve learned the color scheme was created by a special team at the Dingolfing plant. They combined the reddish-brown targa top with a “muted silver” body featuring a “chrome shadow effect.” This color gradient was created specifically for Skytop, which has the roll-over bar and roof wrapped in leather.
One can only hope this concept is the beginning of something great. A new design language from BMW with these traits would be excellent. Whatever the case may be, the Neue Klasse concepts preview promising styling changes for future production models. A new era of BMW design starts in 2025 with the iX3 replacement, followed by an i3 sedan in 2026.
