SPY PICS: Third-generation BMW Z4 looms

This new batch of spy photos featuring BMW’s third-generation Z4 sports car reveals at least one thing not confirmed at the time we published the previous set of pics in January – the production Z4 won’t feature headrest fairings.

The Z4 Concept on display in 2017 at both the Pebble Beach Concourse d’ Elegance and the Frankfurt motor show was endowed with the fairings, which are a shout out to open-top sports cars of the 1950s – cars such as Sir Stirling Moss's Mercedes 300 SLR or the Le Mans-winning Jaguar D-Type. If there were ever plans to incorporate the feature in the design of the production Z4, those plans appear to have been abandoned.

Rather, the new roof-down photos expose a conventionally-tapered boot line extending from the finishing point for the new fabric roof and terminating in a small inbuilt spoiler.

As the fabric roof system will be less complex, weighty and space-greedy than the existing models’ folding hardtop, it’s possible that the boot will gain a bit of extra volume when the top is folded down. Looking at the shut lines, it certainly appears the boot lid will be a lot smaller and lighter than it is currently.

Another revelation concerns the rollover protection that will come with the Z4’s new fabric roof: Separate, fixed structures will stand firmly in place behind each seat, joined by a “wind blocker” to protect passengers from the Z4’s slipstream while on the move. Not exactly pretty, the dual-purpose arrangement should at least enhance the security and comfort of Z4 occupants.

Of further interest is the Z4’s grille: Design director Adrian van Hooydonk has gone on record in British magazine Car saying that the current model’s vertical bars will be replaced by a mesh design. So the ambiguous studded chrome look of the car snapped in these pics could indicate exactly how the stylists want the upcoming sports car’s new front end to look.

Otherwise, the story remains pretty much as told previously: The BMW-Toyota joint development will result in two quite-different cars from East Asia and Central Europe: The third-generation BMW Z4 and Toyota’s reborn Supra – or whatever the company might decide to call it.

Powertrains for the rear-drive Z4 are most likely to include BMW turbo-four and inline six-cylinder engines, and there seems little doubt an M version will follow a little further down the track.

It is understood BMW will provide the engine and suspension technology while Toyota will be largely responsible for the electronics and the expected availability of a hybrid powertrain.

Although we reported in January that the new Z4 was mooted to make its international debut some time this year, the buzz is that it now seems more likely it won’t go on sale until 2019. However it is expected to appear in production form at this year’s Paris motor show in October.