New Sports Cars from BMW and Toyota to be built in Austria

Published Date: 17th May 2016

BMW and Toyota have been working on a new platform for their latest sports cars to succeed the current Z4 and Supra with new models

Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung reports that both new cars will be built by independent vehicle manufacturer Magna Steyr at its massive plant in Graz, Austria.

BMW and Toyota have been working together on new projects since 2011 and have been sharing information on small car platforms, hydrogen fuel cell, plug in hybrid and battery technology.

60,000 of the two jointly developed models will start production at the Magna Steyr plant, Graz in 2018.

The two models will take over the two outgoing models from BMW and Mini, The paceman and paceman roadster. The Countryman is currently built at Graz but the new version will be moved over to the VDL Nedcar plant in the Netherlands.

The Toyota FT-1 Concept car from 2014

BMW have been hesitant to replace the Z4. The two door coupe accounts for just 0.3% of the total BMW sales through 2015. This is generally down to the global demand for two door coupes falling considerably.

Now with the shared costs of developing with Toyota the manufacturing and development costs have been slashed in half, with both parties gaining valuable information from each other. BMW will be back in the segment with a new model dubbed the Z5.

Toyota’s new 2 door sports coupe will see the revival of the Supra badge. We have already seen what the future model will be based upon, with the concept car FT-1 from Toyota in 2014.

This venture will see the Magna Steyr plant increase its portfolio beyond the Mercedes G wagen and future cars with Jaguar on the horizon.