BMW-Toyota Sports Car Project on Schedule

Design study

BMW AG tells Bloomberg News that plans with Toyota Motor Corp. to co-develop a sports car are on schedule and have moved from a technical feasibility study to the concept stage.

The companies haven't publicly revealed specifics about the project, which observers say is intended to create replacements for the BMW Z4 sports car and Toyota Supra sport coupe. But in March Autocar cited unidentified sources who offered considerable detail about the program.

According to Autocar, the cars will be all-wheel-drive hybrids that use a Toyota-developed powertrain featuring multiple electric motors, a BMW-developed 2.0-liter piston engine and manual sequential gearbox.

The British enthusiast magazine also said the cars would use supercapacitors instead of batteries to power the motors. BMW will take the lead in body engineering work, which will include carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic body panels, according to the report.