Photo: Designrm.wordpress.com
The BMW – Toyota sports car saga is drawing to a close, with both manufacturers keeping everything extremely hush-hush at the moment. While some may suspect the two of ill will, the truth is no final decision has been taken so far. This will change by the end of 2015.
In a recent interview with Automotive News Europe, a Toyota spokesperson said that by the end of the year they will approve whether or not the car will be built. Intriguing? Definitely. The possibility of actually seeing the car on the road? Extremely high.
"The whole study before that, on what kind of platform, on what kind of architecture, that's been progressing quite well. We haven't yet decided to give the green light to the project, but it's coming up," added the spokesperson and that is more than just good news.
Signs are good and if we get our way, the collaboration between the two giants could spawn a successor for the BMW Z4 roadster and for the fan-favorite Toyota Supra at the same time.
What’s in it for the two companies?
The jointly-developed car is becoming more and more of a fad in today’s world for a couple of reasons. First of all, both manufacturers involved get to cut their costs, using technology from their partners, that has already been developed without them investing a cent.
In this case, BMW would benefit from Toyota’s fuel-cell research while the Japanese would get access to a bespoke chassis and a conventional internal combustion engine with an inline 6-cylinder configuration.
Rumor has it that both cars would use a hybrid drivetrain made up of a turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine alongside one or two electric motors that power the front axle. With such a layout, the Z4 successor could become a worthy rival for some of Porsche’s models, a goal that has long been on the bucket list of BMW’s management.
"The whole study before that, on what kind of platform, on what kind of architecture, that's been progressing quite well. We haven't yet decided to give the green light to the project, but it's coming up," added the spokesperson and that is more than just good news.
Signs are good and if we get our way, the collaboration between the two giants could spawn a successor for the BMW Z4 roadster and for the fan-favorite Toyota Supra at the same time.
What’s in it for the two companies?
The jointly-developed car is becoming more and more of a fad in today’s world for a couple of reasons. First of all, both manufacturers involved get to cut their costs, using technology from their partners, that has already been developed without them investing a cent.
In this case, BMW would benefit from Toyota’s fuel-cell research while the Japanese would get access to a bespoke chassis and a conventional internal combustion engine with an inline 6-cylinder configuration.
Rumor has it that both cars would use a hybrid drivetrain made up of a turbocharged inline 6-cylinder engine alongside one or two electric motors that power the front axle. With such a layout, the Z4 successor could become a worthy rival for some of Porsche’s models, a goal that has long been on the bucket list of BMW’s management.
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