Car Showroom was on-hand in Tokyo at 3:30pm today (Japanese time) when Toyota and BMW staged a joint international media conference to announce a mid-to-long term collaboration in environmentally friendly technologies.
The Memorandum Of Agreement (MOU) signed in Tokyo yesterday between the two global automotive giants will result immediately in collaborative research and development of next generation lithium ion batteries and hybrid drivetrains plus, from 2014, BMW will supply 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre clean diesel engines to Toyota’s European manufacturing operation – for sale to European customers.
Announcing the agreement, BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer said: “Toyota is the leading provider of environment-friendly series technology in the volume segment and the BMW Group is the most innovative and sustainable manufacturer of premium automobiles. We are now joining forces to further develop environment-friendly technologies and to expand our innovation leadership in each of our segments.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda said: “In the spirit of contributing to furthering the development of the auto industry and society, both companies will bring their wide-ranging knowledge – starting with that concerning environmental technologies – to the table and make even better cars.”
Toyota Europe President Didier Leroy explained the two companies had been working on the agreement since April, that teams of engineers were already working in collaboration and, while supply of the 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre clean diesel engines from BMW does not commence until 2014, he would not be drawn into revealing which Toyota vehicles they will be fitted to.
“Fundamentally we are both engineering companies and we speak the same language. Of course we will remain competitors but co-operation has been excellent. This is an example of Toyota’s focus on a global business in action,” Mr Leroy added.
With regulations tightening worldwide, it is clear new generation powertains will need to address all emissions issues and in this context, Toyota and BMW have agreed to jointly develop the next phase in lithium ion batteries.
It’s a very smart agreement between two very clever companies. Sourcing the clean diesel engines from BMW will be a major boost to Toyota’s European business and frees engineering resources to focus on hybrid drivetrain and lithium ion battery development.
The joint development work from BMW and Toyota will accelerate the complex processes and bring new technologies to market faster.
The announcement came as BMW Group celebrates 30 years of sales in Japan – the company is the best-selling premium import brand in Japan with sales up again so far this year by eight per cent. Reflecting the preference of Japanese buyers for hybrid drivetrain vehicles, BMW sells more of its Active Hybrid 7 limousines in Japan than any other market.
Clearly the agreement between the two companies had been top secret and Toyota Australia management at the announcement heard the news for the first time when the media conference convened. Greg Gardner, Toyota Australia’s product planning chief had been attending meetings in Tokyo and revealed: “We have been requesting additional diesel engines for our passenger cars and SUVs and we’ve had some good news on that front in the last couple of days, but it would be wonderful to have some BMW engines in our range.”
At this stage the supply of BMW clean diesel engines is limited to Toyota Europe which is not a supply source for Toyota Australia. Of course HINO Australia, Toyota’s truck division has been selling small trucks with clean diesel engines for some time.
