BMW Turned A Little 3 Series Into A Delightfully Weird Pickup Truck-Convertible-Coupe Combo You Never Knew Existed

One of the hardest decisions to make as a car enthusiast exactly how to fill your garage with the precise vehicle you need and want. A pickup truck is insanely practical; a convertible would be the perfect summer vehicle; and a sporty coupe would make a thrilling daily. How do you choose just one? What if you didn’t have to? BMW once teamed up with coachbuilder Karmann to create a wild three-in-one concept that could have met all three of those needs. The 1998 BMW K2 started life as a 3 Series E36, but somehow became a pickup truck, a convertible, and a coupe all at the same time.

We were tipped off to the existence of this vehicle by Lee Harry on X, who jokingly calls the K2 “the original Cybertruck.” The idea of a car with a hidden truck bed long predates this creation of the late-1990s. However, when a vehicle like this comes up, I’m more likely to think about a Studebaker Wagonaire or a Frazer Vagabond/Kaiser Traveler long before the Germans ever enter my stream of thought.

If you asked me about more modern examples, I’d quickly tell you about the GMC Envoy XUV and its trick roof or how the concept for the original Toyota RAV4 had an interior that converted into a bed for a dirt bike. Far more obscure is this late-1990s concept with which BMW achieved similar versatility, but with a far smaller 3 Series.

Almost A Secret

As our readers know, I love diving deep into every vehicle I find. Forgotten grails, magnificent motorcycles, dream diesels, trick trikes … every machine has a story, and sometimes that story is even more compelling than the vehicle itself.

So, you can imagine my frustration when I couldn’t find much information on this very special car. BMW makes no mention of the K2 whatsoever on its company websites. Wilhelm Karmann GmbH has been defunct since 2010 and its website has been archived, the only mention of the K2 that I could find was this tiny blurb:

1998 BMW K2

Also in 1998, BMW had Karmann develop the body for an “all-rounder”: the multifunctional BMW K2 based on the BMW 3 Series E36 Compact combines several body variants: it is a coupe, pick-up and convertible all at the same time.

I even took a dive through the German Internet, where I didn’t get much further than what you’re seeing here. Why did BMW ask for this little monster? If you have some spare time today, click this link. It’ll bring you to Karmann’s history page where you’ll be able to take in nearly a century of properly wacky cars built by the company.

At least we know about the car the concept is built on.

The E36 Goes Compact

The BMW E36 3 Series was an ambitious project. It had to follow up the E30, which had already attained legend status before the final example left the production line in 1994. Its successor, the E36, began production in 1990 and as BMW explains, a theme of the E36 was to do things differently:

The best approach is to do everything differently, thought the new car’s designer; Pinky Lai was born in Hong Kong and had worked for Ford in Cologne prior to moving to BMW and then on to Porsche. The E36 was bigger and came with four doors as standard. The headlights were placed behind glass. A standalone Coupe version was added to the product line-up. On the Touring, the tailgate opened full-width. The Convertible was, naturally, based on the stylish Coupe. Occupants benefited from improved aerodynamics and automatically extending roll-over protection. The E36 even came in a hatchback body style. This was reminiscent of the 2002 Touring and known as the “Compact.” The people behind it were bold and had vision. Another unusual design was the Convertible Sedan by Stuttgart-based Baur. This was based on the four-door Sedan and was bigger than any 3 Series that had gone before.

There would be no compromises in terms of suspension or performance, that went without saying. The 3 Series needed to be agile and surefooted, its engines free-revving and the gearshift crisp. It was a BMW, after all. The new car delivered the poise, assurance and driving enjoyment to which aficionados had become accustomed, and which they now expected. This was particularly true with one of the sumptuous six-cylinder engines on board, but the four-cylinders also had a taste for revs. And the diesel units, too, were now long established. Reinterpreting the pleasure of its predecessors for the modern age, the new 3 Series’ horsepower ranged from 100 to 321. Only an all-wheel drive version was missing from the cast, although this did return with the successor generation.

The Compact was a big deal at the time. BMW realized that it needed a volume model and a way to attract younger buyers who might not have the cash for a typical BMW of the time. The stubby Compact is the same as an E36 sedan up front but wears a unique hatch body in back, and BMW saved some cash by equipping the car with the rear semi-trailing arm suspension from the E30. The end result was a car that was 7.9 inches shorter than a regular 3 Series, but rode on the same wheelbase. Most engines for the Compact were four-cylinder mills or underpowered diesels. The largest engine and only choice with more than four cylinders was the 2.5-liter M52 straight-six.

The Compact’s entry price was a good chunk lower than a base 3 Series, though it did cost BMW in the ballpark of $500 million to develop. Here in America, we got the Compact as the 318ti, which had a 1.8-liter four and later a 1.9-liter four, but not the 2.5-liter six. Just like the European version, the American BMW 318ti was the cheapest way to get a roundel with four wheels.

The K2

Mentioning the Compact is important here because Karmann says it built the K2 concept car out of the Compact.

That part does get a bit weird when you look at the photos. The vehicle appears to have similar fenders, interior, quarter panels, and windows to the E36 coupe. But it does also have the rear-end style of the Compact. Unfortunately, given Karmann’s current disposition, we don’t know if this is a highly modified coupe or Compact, but that doesn’t matter that much.

What is pretty neat is what Karmann did with everything behind the front seats. The wild bits start with the roof. There’s a large glass panel plus a steel roof panel with a third brake light that spans the whole panel. In the closed position, the vehicle just looks like a goofy 3 Series Compact. However, the roof panel can also move back to the rear of the vehicle. The glass stores inside of the roof to help create a funky convertible.

Oh, but Karmann didn’t stop there. The roof can also go back to its forward position over the front seats, taking the glass with it. This function reveals a truck bed! What looks like a hatch is also really a tailgate, turning the K2 into a real car-based truck. I even like how there’s a divider window for the interior while the K2 is in truck mode. The bed also doesn’t look like an afterthought. It has runners and what appears to be tie-down points for hauling stuff.

Bimmer Life notes that the concept had some other smaller changes including mirrors and wheels from the M3. Reportedly the powerplant under the hood is the 1.9-liter M44 four making 138 HP and 133 lb-ft of torque.

The trail goes cold here. There are no pictures of the concept hauling things and again, we have nothing on why BMW commissioned Karmann to build this in the first place. If I could make a guess, maybe BMW was trying to appeal to the active lifestyles of the younger buyers it was trying to attract, but that’s all I have.

It’s a shame that only one of these was built and there doesn’t seem to be much out there on it. The K2 sounds like one of those vehicles that would be so fun. It’s a coupe, convertible, and a truck in one! How cool would it be to carve some corners with an old BMW airhead motorcycle strapped into the back?

The funny thing is, this isn’t even the first time BMW has fooled around with car-based trucks. BMW also once built a shop truck out of an E30 M3, and in 2011 turned an M3 into a truck. Oh those silly Germans

I’d love, no I need to know more about the BMW K2. If you have any additional information, send me an email at mercedes@theautopian.com.

(Images: BMW/Karmann)