Motoring giants BMW and Toyota have joined forces in a collaboration which will create new sports cars for the iconic automakers.
The long-awaited successor for the Toyota Supra is set to arrive in 2018, according to reports from Austrian newspaper Klein Zeitung, which claimed the new Toyota Supra would be built alongside the replacement for the BMW Z4 at the Magna Steyr Plant in Graz, Austria.
The Toyota Supra successor could make its long-awaited debut during the North American Auto Show in Detroit in January 2017, or during February’s Geneva Auto Show ahead of its planned global release in 2018.
The collaborative effort between the Japanese automaker and the European luxury car maker is also expected to produce a new BMW sports coupe, which is expected to be called the Z5 and replace the Z4 model in the German automaker’s line-up.
BMW and Toyota first announced plans to work together on a joint sports car project in January, 2013.
Their latest collaborative sports car was first spotted in prototype form late last year, when what was believed to be a heavily camouflaged BMW Z-Series was spotted during testing in Germany.
Expert photo analysis revealed this model being tested was more advanced and aerodynamic when compared to any model in the current BMW Z-Series line up, due to the test car’s reduced centre of gravity, lowered roof line and shortened wheel base.
BMW and Toyota to use 3.0L 6-cylinder BMW engine
The BMW-Toyota collaboration, dubbed the “Silk Road Project”, is a joint production that will demand that in addition to chassis development, BMW will focus on employing its renowned turbocharged 3.0-liter in-line 6-cylinder engine into the vehicle.
The 2018 Toyota Supra will be offered in two engine variants; one a hybrid combination of the BMW 3.0-liter turbocharged in-line 6-cylinder engine and Toyota’s lithium-ion battery pack powered plug-in electric propulsion system which can produce 473hp.
The second engine variant is the BMW 3.0-liter twin-turbo which can produce 335hp.
The joint collaboration between the two auto making giants was confirmed during this year’s Geneva Auto Show, when Toyota confirmed that its product evaluation with BMW had reached completion and the developmental process had begun.
BMW also confirmed its collaboration with Toyota when a high ranking BMW official confirmed this statement in May, with the German automaker announcing it had begun the research and development phase of the new luxury car.
According to reports both the successor to the Toyota Supra and the BMW Z4 are expected to go into production in 2018.
