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BMW Zagato Coupe

It could be said that no auto show is as glamorous as the Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este. Held on the picturesque shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, the annual concours is sponsored by BMW. So it only stands to reason that the Bavarian automaker wouldn't let the show come and go without making a splash on its own.

Previous years saw BMW roll into Cernobbio with such show-stopping concepts as the M1 Hommage and the 328 Hommage, but this year it's not looking back on its history to draw its inspiration. Instead it's teamed up with celebrated Italian coachbuilder Zagato to dream up the concept you see here.

A rare instance of Munich reaching beyond its own design department, the BMW Zagato Coupé is a one-off concept, but is far from a fragile show car. The shape is aerodynamically optimized and the car is fully road registered in Germany, and has already undergone high-speed testing at BMW's own test facility. The Bavarian automaker remains tight-lipped on its underpinnings and running gear, but the obvious conclusion - whether ultimately correct or not - is that it's based on the Z4 roadster.

Whatever lies beneath the hand-crafted aluminum shape, however, is of less consequence than its design. Reinvigorating a tradition of collaboration that goes back to the 1959 BMW 3200 Michelotti Vignale through to the Giugiaro-designed M1 of 1978, the Zagato Coupé concept aptly embodies design cues attributable to both BMW and Zagato - from the twin-kidney grille (whose mesh is made up of little Zs), over the double-bubble roof (a hallmark of Zagato styling originally intended to accommodate a racing helmet in early designs) to the Kamm tail that BMW and Zagato both claim as common heritage.

The greenhouse is set way back and the hood is longer than it took us to put together the immense gallery of high-resolution images BMW has released of the show-stopping concept, which you'll want to check out in detail along with the full press release below.

Continue reading BMW reveals stunning Zagato Coupe at Villa d'Este

BMW reveals stunning Zagato Coupe at Villa d'Este originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 25 May 2012 14:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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