Two of Germany’s major players unveiled new concept convertibles this month, undaunted by Europe’s wet weather. A mix of radical intent with a very traditional typology, both the Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed and BMW’s Concept Skytop hint at future production models.
Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed
First up, the Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed. Mercedes has a long, long history of building both open-topped racing cars and extravagant grand tourers. Billed as the first in the ‘highly exclusive Mythos series,’ a limited run of models developed by the Mercedes-AMG performance subsidiary to tap into this heritage, the PureSpeed is a two seater designed to create a ‘Formula 1 feeling’ for driver and passenger.
Appropriately enough, the car was unveiled ahead of the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix (where the factory team took a respectable 5th and 7th place). The most obvious element of the new concept is the absence of roof and windscreen (‘a tribute to motor racing’, something that also defined the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss Speedster from 2009). This has been replaced by a HALO system, the controversial but now critically important F1 car component that surrounds the cockpit to protect the driver. The system requires a helmet to be of any use, and the car will come with two aerodynamically optimised helmets as standard.
Inside, it’s all pretty stripped back, with a custom clock by IWC Schaffhausen taking a prominent spot on the dashboard, and lots of carbon fibre inside and out. The paintwork is graded from ‘Le Mans Red’ to graphite grey, with prominent AMG graphics and a symbolic number 10 logo (harking back to the marque’s victory in the 1924 Targa Florio race in Sicily). Under the lengthy bonnet is AMG’s core powerplant, the twin-turbocharged V8, and there’s also four-wheel drive.
The PureSpeed is based on the Mercedes-AMG SL 63 4Matic+, the high-powered version of the classic roadster. You can expect the production version to come pretty close to this concept, and just 250 examples will be built.
BMW Concept Skytop
Meanwhile, the BMW Concept Skytop was revealed 350km to the north at the Villa d'Este Concors d’Elegance on the shores of Lake Como. This is a very refined and classic synthesis of forms, far, far removed from the deliberately provocative styling BMW was pushing out at the turn of the century. There are historic references here too, although these nod to classic grand tourers, not racing machines.
The key inspirations were the BMW 503 from the late Fifties and the already retro-tinged BMW Z8, penned in 1998 as a homage to the BMW 507. For now, the Skytop is unashamedly a concept study, the kind of flagship model that design departments would dearly love to focus on day in, day out if the everyday reality of auto industry economics didn’t exist.
As a result, the Concept Skytop is all about the glamour, designed to ‘inspire a desire to travel.’ While there’s definitely an affinity between the solid B-pillar of each car, the Skytop makes an explicit reference to BMW’s signature ‘Hofmeister kink’, bolstered by the extremely refined body surfacing (shown here in a muted silver paint scheme that appears to blend into the interior brown leather on the long rear deck).
This is unmistakeably a BMW, bringing together classic proportions with important design elements like the front kidney grille and shark-nosed profile. If anything, it’s a preview of the next-generation 8-Series, a flagship model currently that’s gone aesthetically slightly off the boil and doesn’t really harness any of the company’s innovations in design or drive technology.
There was no engine associated with the concept, but it would be safe to say that any all-new 8-Series would be unlikely to include anything less than a hybrid drivetrain. An electric model would almost certainly rise to the top of the list of most desirable EVs, should it ever appear.
