BMW 4 Series confirmed – 2 Series and BMW Z2 to follow?

The BMW 4-Series – a sporty, two-door 3-Series – has been confirmed, and it looks like the BMW 2-Series and BMW Z2 will arrive soon too.

The rumours have been around for a while, but now it’s been confirmed – the BMW 4-Series will arrive soon.

And it’s likely not just the BMW 4-Series that’s just around the corner, but so to is a BMW 2-Series and also a BMW Z2. But more of that in a moment.

In essence the BMW 4-Series will be the sporty, two-door versions of the next BMW 3-Series. So that’s Coupe and Convertible moved up a notch leaving room for more goodies, more focus – and bigger prices.

It’s a trick Mercedes has pulled off by badging up a C-Class chassis as an E-Class Coupe, and Audi has managed the same by turning the A4 with swoopy bits in to the A5, giving more scope for some premium pricing.

Interestingly, it also seems likely that BMW will add in a four-door to the 4-Series range, but it will effectively be a smaller Gran Coupe, so it will still fit the swoopy, sporty theme.

All of which has been a bit of information added to some educated guess work – until this week. Because this week BMW managed to make reference on their New M5 site to “… a cockpit in the stylish design of a BMW 4 Series”. Which seems conclusive. Or a typo (we prefer the conclusive bit).

And what BMW are doing by parlaying the next 3-Series in to the new 4-Series, we are expecting the same with the new BMW 1-Series. So you can expect to see the current 1-Series Coupe and Convertible to be replaced by the new BMW 2-Series Coupe and Convertible.

Finally, it also looks as though we’re going to see a baby Z4 with plans underway to produce a BMW Z2. We’ve flagged this up before when we thought BMW were taking a  Z2 to Geneva (which turned out to be another BMW Concept), but it now seems clear that the BMW Z2 will arrive, but based on the new front wheel drive BMW platform.

However, before the BMW aficionadi implode at the prospect of a front-wheel-drive BMW Roadster, it looks as if BMW will actually give the Z2 four-wheel-drive.

Which doesn’t make much sense if they’re looking to produce a more affordable Roadster, but if there are sufficient economies of scale by using the same platform for other models (such as the next MINI Countryman and it’s likely half a dozen derivatives) it could make sense.

So when will all this happen? Well, it’s doubtless a moveable feast, but we reckon 2013 for the 4-Series Coupe, 4-Series Convertible and 2-Series Coupe, and 2014 for the 4-Series ‘Gran Coupe’, Z2 and 2-Series Cabriolet.

It’s going to be a busy few years for BMW