“It’s difficult to establish a business model for this.”. As automobiles, and sports cars in particular, continue to cede ground to SUVs and CUVs, I know my answer. Sorry folks, but it won't be anything like a souped-up Scion FR-S or its twin, the Subaru BRZ. “Sports cars require many parts and elements to realize, however, at the end of the day, when the development phase is over, it’s not like we can expect volume in the market,” he said. Given that, we can expect the Supra and its BMW platform-mate, the upcoming Z4, to be substantially different from each other. So the obvious question is what will each company bring to the R&D table in this challenging collaboration? “When we worked with Subaru, we started out with the aim of having as many common parts as possible between the 86 and BRZ,” Tada-san—who was chief engineer of the 86—said. But around two years ago, details finally began to emerge about what the two automakers were working on. © 2020 MotorTrend | MOTOR TREND GROUP, LLC. Although V-6s still abound in Toyota factories, it has no I-6 engine currently in production. Quickly, though, they began to materialize and become more and more fleshed out, until it was all but certain that the two cars to come from this joint venture would be the BMW Z4 and Toyota …

Most recently in the Subaru + Toyota tie-up for the BRZ and 86 sports car. “The philosophies of the companies, as well as the mentality of Japanese people and German people are quite different.
Because you're a car nerd like us, you'll no doubt recognize a lot of BMW in the Supra pictures that follow, but chalk those up to the new reality.

There are other questions too, such as how the powertrain will put the power down, and how good the overall package will look doing it. And let's all remember who Toyota is teaming up with for its flagship sports car. Less clear are the origins of the co-developed supercar's chassis. As with every preceding generation, the fifth-gen A90 Supra receives an inline-six engine. We may earn a commission through links on our site. Japanese and German people are very different. Would a likely expensive, definitely low-volume, clearly-not-an-SUV rocket ship like the Supra (or Z4) be greenlit in the current climate? That said, the Supra isn’t a total departure from the 86, at least not in philosophy. This new two-door flagship will pick up where the LFA left off, or should we say, where the LFA never went. While BMW has a reputation for building "the ultimate driving machine" and has its own brand of unique design, Toyota -- through Lexus -- must up its game in the sheet-metal department and perhaps borrow some on-road mastery from BMW in order to deliver a supercar that handles like a $300,000 car should. Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer of the upcoming MkV Supra, explained it to us at a Geneva Motor Show roundtable this week. What this means is that the two companies have plans to join forces on future products and technology development. Neither fish nor fowl, JDM nor DTM, what is this unholy union between Germany and Japan? As more details of Supra's co-development with BMW's Z4 emerged, there were cries from Gardena to Bavaria to Kansai: Surely one shall pollute, or at least dilute, the other? Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. Supercar makers are more conscious of CO2 emissions than ever before while at the same time delivering more power and performance. Our source tells us that in addition to emissions trials, Toyota is conducting durability testing of the i8's carbon-fiber frame in relation to the pair's jointly developed sports car. Last Summer, Toyota and BMW announced a “memorandum of understanding” . Powertrain electrification is the key to meeting these goals in the same vehicle.
Or would you rather have neither? Toyota can also offer more than a decade of carbon-fiber body and chassis lessons learned from the LFA. Toyota and BMW first announced a collaboration back in 2012. The LFA spent far too long on the development table (nearly 10 years) with its naturally aspirated V10 engine, while many other carmakers were fitting hybrid and electric powertrains in their high-performance models. The partnership was announced nearly six years ago. By Tonya on February 15, 2013 in BMW, Events. So, if you’re excited for the upcoming Supra, be thankful that Toyota and BMW worked out their differences. It goes without saying that Toyota will supply its hybrid technology, having already experimented with high-performance hybrid powertrains for the V8-powered Lexus LS 600h. This isn't another Suzuki or Mazda tie-up for the econobox segment. Toyota and BMW first announced a collaboration back in 2012. He explained why collaboration, in Toyota’s view, is necessary for sports cars. Five years ago, we put the curvalicious, basted-in-cherry-red-paint backside of Toyota's FT-1 concept on our cover (see that cover below). © 2020 MotorTrend | MOTOR TREND GROUP, LLC. The company spent billions developing the LFA and its V10, just 500 examples of which were produced, so Toyota wants to leverage that technology to recoup some of those costs. Of course, Tada-san already filled us in how the Supra will be a natural extension of the 86 in terms of dynamics, but there’s also the fact that both are the realizations of collaboration. In that sense, we had to overcome a lot of differences.”. Tada-san said it took around two years for Toyota and BMW to hash these out, but now, the two understand each other much better. Hummer's 11,500 Lb-Ft Torque Claim Is Misleading, AMG GT Black Series Reportedly Takes 'Ring Record, SSC Thinks Bugatti's Top Speed Record Was Bogus, Introducing Shop R&T, Road & Track's Online Store, Hummer Is Back With a 1000-HP, $113,000 EV Truck, This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. No news emerged from this pairing, and the assumption was that perhaps the partnership wouldn't have the results we hoped. Porsche has its Panamera plug-in hybrid too, as well as the million-dollar 918 Spyder super-hybrid that recently set a new production-car lap record of 6:57 at the Nurburgring. So it doesn't take much to deduce that a BMW 4.4-liter turbo V8 married to a Toyota hybrid system may be the best powertrain solution for a joint-venture sportster. But they had quite an unexpected reaction initially, saying ‘there’s no point in having as many common parts as possible if we cannot make a car that we each want.’, “So we decided to first have a firm idea of what we, individually, wanted to make, and based on that, we approached each other and compared to see where we could have common parts.”. So it doesn't take much to deduce that a BMW 4.4-liter turbo V8 married to a Toyota hybrid system may be the best powertrain solution for a joint-venture sportster. The main reason this partnership is smart is because it saves money. ... Chief engineer Tetsuya Tada led Toyota's side of that joint venture, as he does now with BMW. The short answer? You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io, Volkswagen Is Cancelling the Beetle in 2019, The New A8 Will Be the Last 12-Cylinder Audi, Porsche's EVs Have to Perform Like They Burn Gas, Corbellati Missile: 1800 HP and a 310-MPH Goal, Everything To Know from Geneva in One Place, One Detail on the GT3 RS That's Purely Cosmetic, The 2019 Toyota Supra Will Sort Of Be a Turbo 86. Toyota has carbon-fiber expertise from its LFA journey, while BMW has perfected carbon-fiber reinforced plastic production on a mass scale, as evidenced by the launch of the i3. We're finally starting to see the fruits of the relationship. Why Toyota’s Supra-Z4 Partnership With BMW Makes Sense - The Lohdown All or nothing. I say no way. FCA, then Ford, and most recently GM have all cut and run from the car business, getting out of full model lines like Dodge Dart, Chrysler 200, Ford Fusion/Focus, and GM Volt and Cruze. Chief engineer Tetsuya Tada led Toyota's side of that joint venture, as he does now with BMW. Interestingly, Toyota was the first to make hybrids commercial with the original Prius in 1997, but it took many more years for it to apply that technology to V8s. Certainly, these cars will have a lot less in common than the near identical Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ.

And, then, we heard nothing. BMW and Toyota today said they will develop a sports car together and cooperate in fuel-cell technology, powertrain electrification and lightweight technologies. So why did it take so long? Well, that depends on you. (If you're curious, Google BMW M30, M88, S54, and S55 engines.) These were volume models. Pull back and examine how Toyota does business around the world, and you'll find that it regularly enters into a wide range of partnerships with other OEMs both at home and abroad. Road & Track participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. During a recent trip to Toyota's proving ground near Mt Fuji, we saw a BMW i8 plug-in hybrid super-coupe sitting in the car park. And, then, we heard nothing. According to media reports, including Automotive News and Reuters, BMW and Toyota are exploring options to increase their joint involvement.An announcement is said to be made this week between the two companies with Toyota supplying BMW with hybrid drivetrains as well as fuel cell technology in addition to the early agreed upon battery collaboration and BMW supplying diesel … BMW, on the other hand, is an engine-producing powerhouse that may no longer have a V10 in its range, but the M5's 560hp 4.4-liter turbo V8 develops the same amount of power as the LFA's 4.8-liter V10 while consuming far less fuel and emitting less CO2. This is BMW, not just the Ultimate Driving meisters but arguably the very best partner Toyota could have selected when it comes to Supra's most foundational element: the straight-six engine. So Toyota is now playing catch-up in the hybrid hyper-car segment.

Toyota has been here before. How long will they stay? We haven't had a better-selling March issue since—which explains why the highly anticipated production version of the FT-1 is our cover car this month. These differences also explain why this sports-car partnership looks so different than Toyota’s tie-up with Subaru to create the 86 and BRZ. Let me know yours on Twitter @edloh. And saving money this way allows for product lines to grow, not shrink. See all 9 photos “When we initially approached BMW, we thought it would also be aiming to have as much common parts as possible.