{"id":84722,"date":"2026-01-27T08:34:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84722"},"modified":"2026-01-27T08:34:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T13:34:58","slug":"bmw-skytop-production-model-synthetic-leather-roof","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/?p=84722","title":{"rendered":"BMW Skytop Production Model Gets An Imitation Leather Roof"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since BMW confirmed it would build the Skytop, it raised an interesting question: What happens when it rains? It\u2019s a legitimate concern, considering the concept had its roof wrapped in leather. That won\u2019t be the case for the 50 cars heading to customers, though. A company spokesperson has told us the production-ready Skytop has its roof covered in a leather-like material.<\/p>\n

The decision might seem like a downgrade for a car that reportedly costs \u20ac500,000. However, it makes sense from a usability standpoint. Everyone knows leather and water don\u2019t mix, and the roof would have been easily damaged on a rainy day. Sooner rather than later, moisture would have caused the leather to stiffen, become brittle, and ultimately crack.<\/p>\n

Switching to a synthetic material while retaining the leather look as much as possible is the best compromise. As with the concept, the production-ready Skytop<\/a> features two manually removable targa panels. When owners want the open-air experience, the two pieces fit inside the trunk. It\u2019s an entirely different roof setup compared to the M8 Convertible\u2019s electrically folding top. Another obvious change is the elimination of the rear seats.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

BMW told us that, aside from the roof and the addition of parking sensors, the customer Skytop is nearly identical to the concept<\/a>. More than 95 percent of the showcar displayed at the 2024 Concorso d\u2019Eleganza Villa d\u2019Este has carried over to the production version. Customer deliveries began last October, and the car has been sold out for a long time.<\/p>\n

Its shooting brake sibling, the Speedtop, was also an instant success. BMW\u2019s striking two-door wagon will have a higher production run of 70 units. Similarly, all of them have already been spoken for<\/a>. Also based on the M8, the ultimate Touring carried a similar (if not identical) asking price, rumored to hover around half a million euros. Production is set to begin toward the end of 2026, and once the final Speedtop is built, we\u2019ll effectively say goodbye to the 8 Series.<\/p>\n

Fun fact: The Skytop and Speedtop are BMW\u2019s first models to feature a newly designed door handle, discreetly embedded into the beltline. The first series-production vehicle to use it will debut later this year when the fifth-generation X5 (G65)<\/a> breaks cover. Next year\u2019s X7 (G67) will employ the same subtle \u201cwinglets\u201d below the side glass.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever since BMW confirmed it would build the Skytop, it raised an interesting question: What happens when it rains? It\u2019s a legitimate concern, considering the concept had its roof wrapped in leather. That won\u2019t be the case for the 50 cars heading to customers, though. A company spokesperson has told us the production-ready Skytop has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":84723,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/84723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/autosector.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}