BMW | Via CarScoops

BMW | Via CarScoops

BMW | Via CarScoops

BMW | Via CarScoops

These photos suggest the Z4 is undergoing a welcome return to sporting form, an implication backed up by other performance details that dribbled out this year. BMW previously confirmed the roadster will use both a locking rear differential and an adaptive suspension system to help it hustle through the curves. We'll see how it looks in person at Pebble Beach next week—stay tuned for the official reveal. Now, who's going to leak the first Supra pictures?

New car reveals are highly choreographed affairs, but it's getting harder and harder to keep a secret in the age of the internet. A batch of what appear to be official press photos for the upcoming 2019 BMW Z4 roadster is making the rounds online today, over a week before its officially-scheduled debut amid the Pebble Beach Concours D'Elegance festivities on August 23.

BMW | Via CarScoops

There are the new, wider taillights previously seen on the 2019 BMW X4, the upgraded digital gauge cluster from the reborn 8 Series, and doodads like wireless phone charging that we've come to expect from any pricey luxury car. The image set also includes a single shot of a plastic-shielded inline-six engine. Other leaked internal documents this year have seemed to confirm both four and six-cylinder mills for the Z4, plus a crucial manual transmission option (the co-developed new Toyota Supra will reportedly forgo a row-your-own gearbox).

The photos initially popped up on Belgian auto news site Autotijd.be yesterday showing the 2019 Z4 M40i, which presumably will be the top trim available. Other copies soon showed up on sites like CarScoops and BMWBlog. Thankfully, the final design held onto the low profile and tight lines of the concept version teased last year; the long hood, short trunk, and more angular appearance call back to the original E85 Z4 from the early Aughts, while inside and out it very much looks the part of a modern Beemer.