BMW and Toyota Settle on Joint Sports Car Platform

Talk about the BMW and Toyota jointly developed sports car has been going on for months. Initially, it was reported that the collaboration could result in two separate sports cars of similar performance and specs to the Porsche Cayman. However, later rumours indicated that a Lexus LFA successor could be on the cards.

Now, BMW development boss Dr. Herbert Diess has confirmed that the joint architecture to be used for the car has finally been agreed upon. This may not sound that important, but it was previously confirmed that up to six different options were being considered so narrowing that down and choosing one is a great step.

Unfortunately, Diess didn’t confirm just what sort of car that architecture would spawn. However, he did confirm that there will be two different vehicles which are authentic to the two brands.

In terms about the speculation of a Lexus LFA successor, the fact that two different cars will be produced seems to nullify that possibility. Nevertheless, if it had come to fruition, the car could have utilised the carbon fiber frame of the recently revealed BMW i8 sports car. With Toyota being a front-runner in terms of producing hybrid powertrains, they would inevitably provide such a system while BMW could supply a similar 4.4-liter V8 twin-turbo engine as found in the BMW M5.

If that were the case, then the 560 hp engine of the M5 mated with a hybrid powertrain possibly delivering around 200 hp would be more than enough to produce a fitting LFA successor.

[Via Auto News]

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