BMW introduced their Z3 sports car in 1996. The BMW Z3 was first released in a convertible Roadster body style that was known internally at BMW by the code E36/7. The Z3 roadster was offered with a variety of inline four and inline six engines with power going the rear wheels: 1.8, 1.9, 1.9i, 2.0, 2.2i, 2.3, 2.5i, 2.8 and 3.0i. The top of the line variant, the Z3 M Roadster, was introduced in 1998.