[Jason]

BIMMERPOST NEWS

BMW and Toyota Formally Agree to Develop Sportscars on Shared Platform

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Back in January of this year, BMW and Toyota signed an agreement to cooperate on joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies. The two companies have now decided upon and agreed to develop a joint platform for sportscars, BMW's development chief Herbert Diess told a German newspaper.

"We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car. What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today quoted Diess as saying.

Diess declined to provide details on the models that would result from the cooperation, but much of the rumor mill surrounding this project since its inception has suggested a potential Supra and Z4 built on the shared platform.

A rumor from earlier this year reported that BMW was testing a BMW-built V6 hybrid motor which would deliver similar power to the new Supra - speculated to be 400+ HP (from a turbocharged 2.5L inline 4 cylinder hybrid or a mid-mounted 3.5L V6 hybrid). Another recent rumor suggested instead that a hybrid halo sports car would be the product of the collaboration.

The next Z4 is due 2015-2016.

Via Reuters

[adriang]

Oh, God.

[scutts]

Oooo Supra!

[Tony135]

Weird

[gabe925]

Don't know how I feel about this...

[ORIGIN M.]

I don't like it

[mhanism]

Agree - not sure how I feel about this. Was never a big fan of Toyota's, especially the FR-S.

[oonowindoo]

BMW with Toyota reliability? Why not?

[Kung Fu English]

This is the passport to the future of affordable sports cars: fast hybrids that get 50+ MPG and cost 50k or so. First few years may be rough but it's about developing the technology. The i8 is the first step but is too expensive to appeal to the masses that want a 30-70k sports coupe.

[Vervain]

In other news, BMW has supplied an economical diesel engine for Toyota's new Verso.

Nothing exciting though:

http://www.wheels24.co.za/NewModels/...Verso-20131218

[Shaw]

if the phrase "best of the two worlds" actually does apply in this scenario, then we may have a point of discussion...
then there are 2 things to discuss:
1) we need to define what are the best of each world: Performance (BMW) & Reliability (Toyota) for example?
2) Do these criteria actually make sense for sport cars?

[flanast]

Bring IT ON

[stefan]

BRZ/FRS does not have a proper motor for a sports car. This should be better.

[Falafel Combo]

I like where this is going. I secretly hope its a hybrid. An electric hybrid with massive torque off the line, coupled with a high revving BMW engine (think Porsche 918). One can only dream.

[Teemo Panda]

I wonder if my 1st gen Supra Celica would increase in Value :3?

[Cuz5150]

So let me get this straight Now that BMW cranks out 1.5 million + cars per year, They have become High rollers(high volume) Now all of the sudden, they don't have the time or room or resources to make there own sports car Really????

Bmw is following Toyota trend. Remember toyota use to make sports car MR-2 Celica, Supra, forgetting others. The past decade they dropped all sports cars and made none until recently with Subaru.

I guess i'll wait until VW joints Ferrari to make the next $30K sports car

[stealth.pilot]

Originally Posted by Cuz5150

So let me get this straight Now that BMW cranks out 1.5 million + cars per year, They have become High rollers(high volume) Now all of the sudden, they don't have the time or room or resources to make there own sports car Really????

Bmw is following Toyota trend. Remember toyota use to make sports car MR-2 Celica, Supra, forgetting others. The past decade they dropped all sports cars and made none until recently with Subaru.

I guess i'll wait until VW joints Ferrari to make the next $30K sports car

Actually that's already on the Schedule. Sub Boxster VW-Porsche sports car.

[Axman85]

What was that 80's song; It's The End Of The World As We Know It!


TOYOTA SUCKS. WORST CAR I EVER OWNED and I won't be buying a ToYoBimmer either.

[aajami]

I thought we knew this news already. Where are the details of this next car? Bring on the Z5M info please.

[KaZe]

Supraaaaaaaaaaaa

[RedGT3RS]

Originally Posted by mhanism

Agree - not sure how I feel about this. Was never a big fan of Toyota's, especially the FR-S.

FRS is a great car....

[ddk632]

I think Toyota makes good cars. I loved my 1994 4Runner, it was a cool truck. Heavily underpowered though, but things have changed since then.

The BRZ / FRS is touted as a great little sports car. You don't need tons of power in these cars. Think Honda S2000. A lightweight sports hybrid could be pretty cool.

I'd be interested to see what Toyota brings to the table and what BMW brings to the table for this project; which tech and/or contributions will come from where?

It's quite interesting.

And, it's only one car for the time being.

Not like the disaster that was the Benz-Chrystler attempt at a merge.