Article Summary
- BMW reveals another production Skytop for a customer.
- It’s one of the 50 units the company is making.
- Skytop has been long sold out, despite allegedly costing €500,000.
When did BMW’s design peak? Ask three people, and you’ll probably get three different answers. While looks are subjective, many seem to agree the glory days are gone, or are they? The Skytop is a reminder that Munich can still draw a gorgeous car, albeit only for a handful of one-percenters.
Fresh images show the production version of the M8-based targa beauty undergoing final inspection ahead of delivery. Although BMW never officially put a price tag on the Skytop, rumor has it that the 50 cars were sold for €500,000 apiece. Strangely, the two-seater convertible still hasn’t been officially revealed as a production-ready model and probably never will be.
If it weren’t for the largely unchanged interior, it would be difficult to tell it’s based on an M8. Well, unless you look underneath the all-new bodywork. The vehicles BMW is building for customers are more than 95% identical to the concept. Subtle changes include adding parking sensors and switching to imitation leather for the roof. As a refresher, the show car had its two removable targa panels wrapped in real leather. However, the road-going model uses a synthetic material for better all-weather durability.
One detail I hadn’t noticed until today is the grille’s illuminated contour. Since the kidneys aren’t obnoxiously large, the extra lighting doesn’t stand out as much as it does on BMW’s regular production cars. All 50 Skytops will look exactly like this, as the cars are being built in a single, fixed configuration.
Beyond its jaw-dropping design, the Skytop likely marks the beginning of the end for the S63 engine. It uses the S63B44T4 revision of the twin-turbo 4.4-liter V8 in the highest state of tune ever offered by BMW in a production V8. With the successor S68 engineered as a mild hybrid and designed to support plug-in hybrid applications, the Skytop and Speedtop are effectively among the last of the gas-only V8 breed.
Speaking of the two-door shooting brake, wealthy buyers will have to wait patiently to park these wagons in their climate-controlled garages. Limited to 70 units and already sold out, the Speedtop won’t enter production until late this year, meaning deliveries may not begin until early 2027.
Hopefully, some of these design traits will trickle down to series-production models. For the Skytop, BMW drew inspiration from the Z8 and the 503 Convertible when reimagining the M8. Ideally, it will continue looking to the past for design cues that can shape future models. Preferably, ones that don’t cost half a million euros…
