BMW said goodbye to the Z4 — and a Swiss atelier wasted no time filling the void. Atelier Edo Popken wants to give the roadster a second life, one car at a time. The project is called EDO Roadster, and every example is promised to be a genuine one-off. No two cars will ever be alike — this isn't a marketing line, it's the whole premise. One important caveat: this is an independent conversion, not a new Z4 generation and not an official BMW model.
And the project already runs into a problem: the raw material is running out. The last G29-generation Z4 rolled off the line at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, and BMW has confirmed it — production is over, with no direct successor planned. Dealers may still have some unsold units in stock, but that supply won't last. Which means the EDO program will have to lean on used cars, leftover new Z4s, or donor cars bought up in advance — the atelier hasn't said whether it already has its own stockpile.
The real question is how far EDO is willing to go. Will this stop at body panels and trim, or will the atelier reach into the engine, suspension, and brakes too? Nobody knows yet. There's no word on which Z4 variants qualify, what materials the body will use, how long a build takes, how many orders are planned, what it costs, or how homologation will work. Right now there are more questions than answers.
Some details have already surfaced, though. Design, paint, and interior work stay with Atelier Edo Popken itself, while the mechanical side goes to a sister company, Edo Motorsport. The press release lists more than 111 modified parts: a reworked front end, a new rear diffuser, dual round exhaust tips the atelier says are a direct nod to the legendary BMW Z8. The numbers being floated are over 400 horsepower and a 0-60 mph time under 4 seconds. For founder Edo Popken, this isn't new territory — he was previously a BMW i8 brand ambassador and already built one-off versions of that car, the i8 Procar and the i8 Roadster RSL.
Either way, the factory roadster's status has already changed: instead of a catalog car from BMW, buyers are now being offered a bespoke starting point for a collector commission. What comes next will decide whether the hype holds up — photos of the first finished EDO Roadster, the full list of changes, and the final price.
