We already knew that Fiat and Mazda are jointly developing s sports car platform, Now, BMW's development chief Herbert Diess told a German newspaper that the German automaker and Toyota will jointly develop and share a new platform for sports cars. "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," the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Diess as saying.
In June of 2012, BMW and Toyota signed a technology agreement covering cooperation on lithium-air batteries and lightweight technology. At the time the two companies said that they were looking into the possibility of creating a joint platform for an all new midsize sports car. That feasibility study was expected to be completed by the end of 2013. We're at the end of 2013 and based on Diess' comments, the study likely said that it's feasible.
The newspaper said that Diess declined to provide details on specific models that would come to fruition from the agreement.
That hasn't stopped speculation. Based on comments made in August by Toyota's chief engineer of the GT86/FR-S sports car shared with Subaru, Tatsuya Tada, many think that Toyota's share of the tie up with BMW will be a successor to the Supra. There are rumors that Toyota will reveal the next Supra at the big North American International Auto Show in Detroit next month.
from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com
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