Lexus and BMW Cement Partnership for Joint Sports Car
From the news desk of Reuters – BMW & Toyota have finalized an agreement to develop a joint platform for sports cars.
“We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car. What is important is that there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands,”Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung today quoted [BMW’s development chief Herbert] Diess as saying.
Frankfurter Allgemeine said that Diess declined to provide details on the models that would result from the cooperation.”
Say it ain’t so! Just kidding – this is actually some pretty great news to me. With proposed possibilities ranging from new Toyota Supra rumors to a Lexus x BMW joint venture to develop a next-generation Lexus supercar, there’s a lot of uncertainty (but excitement) on the horizon for this new partnership.
Part of which though, remains the speculation on the table as Lexus and BMW continue walking along such divergent paths:
- BMW’s moves toward turbo vs Lexus’s displacement heavy performance models
- Lexus’s long-standing reputation for softer driving (though we’re seeing some heavy in the most recent years)
- Emergence of hybrid technologies into high-end luxury (please don’t make the Supra a hybrid, dear god)
We’ve seen a ton of success come in with the Subaru x Toyota marriage in the BRZ/FRS twins, so one can only imagine what would happen when Germany and Japan align themselves in this new age partnership.
via [Reuters]
