That is one seriously good-looking car.

As mentioned to us by a senior BMW official earlier this year, the new Z4 is set to be the most gorgeous looking BMW yet. Unfortunately, we’d have to take his word for it as the new Z4 won’t be unveiled until next year and as far as these spy photos and rendered shots show, it looks pretty sexy. The new BMW roadster will no longer use the current car’s lightweight canvas roof, opting instead for a trick, multi-piece metal roof, ala-SLK. For BMW, the advantages of choosing the hardtop far outweighed the disadvantages of increased weight and reduced boot space. To put things into perspective, the hardtop roof used on the 3 Series cabrios weigh as much as two full sized adults – a definite drawback to the car’s handling attributes.

So no soft-top option this time around? 

At this time, there’s still a rumour going around that BMW might offer their customers an optional canvas top for the new Z4, though we highly doubt this would be the case. Sharing some design cues from the CS concept, the Z4 looks absolutely stunning. The long, front bonnet – a characteristic of the E85 Z4 – remains untouched in the new model, but the original car’s circular taillights have been dumped in favor of a newer, much sleeker, LED detailed one that looks vaguely like the lights currently offered on the 6 Series. The engine line-up will most definitely include BMW’s ultra-torquey 3.0 litre twin turbo which is currently seeing production in the X6, 335i and 135i. The rumoured Z4M will feature BMW’s newly developed turbo six, which is expected to produce 350bhp, instead of the current M3’s V8.

BMW will most probably unveil the new Z4 concept at next month’s Los Angeles motor show, with first deliveries starting in as early as January 2009 after it’s official launch at the Detroit Motorshow.

Interior photo courtesy of KGP Photography