Eagle-eyed CAR magazine reader and deputy editor Terence Steenkamp’s dad, Jan, spotted German automaker BMW testing its upcoming new Z4 roadster and next-generation 1 Series hatchback in the Northern Cape of South Africa.
The photographs of the camouflaged models you see here were snapped in the town of Calvinia. Various manufacturers, of course, use the Northern Cape for hot-weather testing of upcoming products.
The production version of the new Z4 – previewed by the BMW Concept Z4 revealed at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California in August 2017 – is expected to be unveiled at some point in 2018.
Developed alongside the upcoming Toyota Supra, the new Z4 sports a soft-top and lines not too dissimilar from those debuted by that swoopy concept.
The third-generation 1 Series hatchback, meanwhile, will move over to the BMW Group’s UKL2 platform – already underpinning the likes of the X1 and Mini Countryman – which means it will no longer be rear-wheel drive. Expect the basic models to employ front-wheel drive with xDrive derivatives positioned further up the range.
Rumours suggest that the new 1 Series – expected to arrive only in 2019 – will be offered in five-door configuration only.
