18 months ago Car Showroom attended a media conference at the Tokyo Motor Show when BMW and Toyota announced collaborative technology development. At the time both companies said further joint projects were on the drawing board.
Further projects indeed! How about a joint sports car? And how about fast-tracking its development?
The news came through overnight – BMW and Toyota are studying a joint mid-size sports car and the study will be completed as early as the end of this year. Now let’s see…Toyota 86, a multiple ‘Car Of The Year’ winner last year…BMW Z4 and 6 Series…this will be very tasty.
Further, BMW and Toyota say they’re working on lightweight technology (including cutting-edge materials like reinforced composites) initially for the sports car but also for other vehicles.
Also emerging from last night’s missive from Europe: Joint BMW and Toyota development of fuel cell technology including a fuel cell stack and system, a hydrogen tank, motor and battery. That would be zero emissions motoring and the Japanese-German conglomerate will have that work knocked-over by 2020 (and with BMW involved you’d reckon the driving dynamics will be top-notch).
And development of a lithium-air battery is also on the BMW-Toyota ‘To-Do List’. Important job this – the potential for energy density far superior to current lithium-ion battery technology could revolutionize electric car motoring.
BMW and Toyota teaming up – file this under ‘D’ for ‘Dream Team’.
