Toyota-BMW sports car collaboration is going to Tokyo Motor Show
It would appear that November’s Tokyo Motor Show will be hosting the unveiling of at least a part of the mid-sized sport car collaboration between Toyota and BMW.
It’s been reported that the new sports car concept – which is most likely to be the Toyota version – will be revealed at the Japanese brand’s local show, thus giving the world its first look at the results of this rather highly anticipated partnership.
As opposed to the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ collaboration that created two near-identical compact sports cars, this partnership between Toyota and BMW is expected to result in two very distinct models with unique sheet metal and styling reflective of the each brand’s design philosophies.
A source has revealed that the development of mid-sized sports car project started sometime in 2011, more than six months before the two officially confirmed the joint program in July 2012.
On the Toyota side of the collaboration the vehicle’s development is lead by Tetsuya Tada, the chief engineer for the Toyota 86 program.
He told Toyota UK’s official blog that the new mid-sized sports car has to reach a new level for the brand.
His hopes are for a synergy effect with BMW that will result in a product neither could have produced on their own, something that nobody expected. He continued to say that in order for the collaboration to work they would have to create a product that would exceed all expectations.
Reports talk about the Toyota version being a successor to the Supra, while for BMW, it is yet unknown where the new model will be located in relation to the Z4 and upcoming 4 Series coupe.
The Toyota/BMW sports car collaboration is part of a larger partnership between the two, in which they will be working on the electric drive-trains, hydrogen fuel cells and lightweight technologies.
