BMW may be contemplating the exciting proposition of creating another special performance car with McLaren, but it has plenty of its own existing creations to keep itself busy in its M Division's 50th-anniversary year. Among these is the 2023 BMW M2, which carries the internal designation G87. We've caught it taking on the Nurburgring as part of its strenuous development program and have also seen some of the optional M Performance parts that will be offered, but as eye-catching as these "upgrades" are, we're not sure that they'll be very attractive. Fortunately, not all optional extras will be attention-grabbing bits that look ghastly. In fact, some will be damn sexy.

Thanks to a leak from an Instagram page, we can now confirm that the BMW M2 will be inheriting the optional carbon fiber bucket seats that the M3 and M4 have access to, but as with those cars, we're willing to bet that this will form part of the M Performance catalog, meaning it won't be standard fare. As you'd expect, there are some changes. Sure, the carbon fiber elements and the shape of the seats remain roughly the same, but on the M2, a model-specific backlit badge features alongside a unique upholstery finish that elegantly incorporates the M tricolor design. Manual pull tags will enable reclining so your horrified kids can kick the carbon at your back while you're scaring them half to death drifting around the neighborhood.

As you may recall, these seats (in varying colors and finishes) were also fitted to the M5 CS and BMW M4 Competition x Kith as standard. We suspect that the upcoming M4 CSL and M3 CS will follow suit, likely adding rear buckets for the latter too.

It's nice to see that the BMW M Performance Parts Concept from 2018 has finally endowed the M2 with some super sporty seats, but we expect these to cost a fortune. Regardless, the seats will matter little if performance is not up to standard. Luckily, BMW M's S58 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six will be more than up to the task and is expected to produce more than 450 horsepower in its first incarnation. Eventually, an M2 Competition and probably an M2 CS (or even CSL?) will follow. Thanks to these leaks and spy shots, there's plenty to look forward to, but hopefully, there will still be some surprises in store when the car is revealed later this year.