Last year when BMW and Toyota announced the intent to collaborate on a sports car model, many enthusiasts’ hands were up in the air. Baffling, right? Consider this: With the demise of both the Supra and the Celica, the company that calls Prius king could need some assistance on the sports car front; however, the same cannot be said for the company who produces twin-kidneyed angel-eyed autos in Germany. Again, the partnership seems questionable, but this is nothing new as of late. Collaboration is the new trend in the automotive industry, it seems.

Dig a little deeper and this collaboration starts to make sense. From a practical standpoint, Toyota is king when it comes to getting alternative fuel vehicles into the mainstream. The Prius is California’s best selling vehicle, in fact. We could see some jointly developed diesels, fuel cell, and lithium battery powered vehicles on either brand’s lineup. What is more exciting to consider, however, is the idea of a jointly developed sports car, an upscale coupe to be specific. Think Supra successor in name and driving dynamics for Toyota or a niche-filling coupe in BMW’s lineup differing itself from the 4 and 6-series, Z4, and tech-laden i8.

Toyoda gave the project a green light. This is the same executive that granted the Lexus LFA and the Scion FR-S existence. It is safe to say this man loves his sports cars. Better yet, the engineer working on the joint sports car Tetsuya Tada, the chief engineer for the Scion FR-S. His recent rips to Munich have already been well documented, further feeding the rumors of an imminent sports car.

We doubt the BMW-Toyota mash up with utilize the flat-four 2.0 liter engine that’s dropped into the Scion FR-S; a BMW inline-four is more likely—dare we say a turbo may be involved? Probably. Additonally, a hybrid powertrain has been confirmed, for good measure and good mpg. In regards to the platform, there would have to be major modification in regards to fitting a Toyota chassis with a BMW engine, especially if the car were to appear in BMW’s medium-to-large couple portfolio. Since the closest concept we have to base our design ideas on is the FT-1 concept from Detroit, however rumors point at the design of each car to be much different, thankfully. This will not be a Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ design effort. Until then, we have our very own Scion FR-S rental to keep us content, and as soon as we can get our hands on another BMW M3, we will. We can only hope this mythical sports car lives up to the expectation enthusiasts have!

-Evan W.