Remember the
announcement made in July by BMW and Toyota regarding their plans to work together on the joint development of architecture and components for a future sports car? Few details were given about the end products for each respective company other than that the jointly developed sports car will not be identical nor share exterior designs and that they will be sustainable sports cars with environmentally friendly technology.
We expected the cars to feature technologies in which BMW and Toyota are market leaders -- carbon fiber and hybrid tech, respectively.
Toyota's UK chief Jon Williams has now
indicated to Autoblog at the 2012 Paris auto show that the sports car is likely to be a hybrid. "In terms of the next developments we have announced a partnership with BMW to develop a sports car and that is likely to be a hybrid," said Williams.
"Our dealers want exciting cars that bring in new buyers. You'll have seen with our product plans that, in the words of our president, we are rewarding customers with a smile. That is all about driving and the thrill of driving. That has come back with the GT86 and will continue."
Could this provide the basis for the return of the Toyota Supra, in hybrid form? Time will tell, but what we do now know is to expect a hybrid sports car for BMW from this project.