BMW has released the first images of a new model set to be revealed at the upcoming Villa d’Este Concours, seemingly fusing last year’s Skytop concept with the famed “Clownshoe” Z3 M Coupé, reports Autocar.

Images posted to social media show the silhouette of a model with the same rear lights as the Skytop, a rakish open-top GT unveiled at last year's Villa d’Este Concours, but a reworked tail section. Its form appears to reference the Z3 M as well as the Z4-based Touring Coupé concept that BMW revealed at Villa d’Este in 2023. The Touring Coupé never made it to production, but the Skytop, on the other hand, is being readied for a limited run of 50 road-going cars.

Testing of these cars—based on the CLAR platform that underpins every BMW from the 3 Series upwards and packing a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8—recently ramped up ahead of this year’s Villa d’Este Concours, which opens on Friday. “It is a little bit like a test balloon: you show the cars and, if there's enough demand, it can be built,”, BMW M chief Frank van Meel last year had told Autocar, discussing the impact of Villa d’Este.

“I think the demand is quite high, so [the] probability is quite high. We will see over the next few weeks if that interest translates into purchasing orders,” he had added. And BMW design director Adrian van Hooydonk added that “there’s no need to turn [the Skytop] into a big series production car” and that it is “maybe an instant classic."