Production
BMW only produced 8,000 Z1 models. The majority of these (6,443) were sold in BMW's native German market. The country to receive the second-greatest number of Z1s, Italy, received less than 7% of the total sold domestically. BMW was reportedly unable to build more than 10 to 20 Z1 vehicles each day. None were initially sold in North America, although examples have been independently imported since the car's launch.
There are reports that BMW built 12 Z1 vehicles during 1986 and 1987, bringing the total to 8,012 vehicles. However, most sources report the 8,000 figure.
More than half of all Z1 vehicles (specifically, 4,091) were produced for the 1990 model year. Seventy-eight Z1 vehicles were reportedly used as test mules, although most were later sold without a warranty and, presumably, at a lower price.
The Z1 was available in six exterior colours and four interior colours, although the vast majority (6,177) were red, black, or green with a dark grey interior. Light yellow exterior (fun-gelb in German or fun yellow in English; 133 examples made) or red interior (38 examples made) are the rarest Z1 colours. The colours swimming pool blue and oh-so-orange were reserved for the car's designers, Bez and Lagaay.
Reportedly, some 1,101 Z1 vehicles were delivered without a factory radio installed. In these vehicles, BMWS AG installed an aftermarket Sony radio in its place.
None of the Z1 vehicles were sold with air conditioning. The vehicle's dashboard is very small and there was no room for both heat and cooling units. Some Z1 vehicles were converted using BMW E30 parts to have air conditioning, but reportedly the heater elements had to be removed.
BMW Z1 vehicles officially imported to France for sale there have yellow headlights instead of the clear ones found elsewhere.
Read more about this topic: BMW Z1
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—Ernest Gellner (b. 1925)
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—Debbie Taylor (20th century)