Supra/Z4: Toyota And BMW Engineers Haven’t Talked To Each Other Since 2014

BMW’s all-new Z4 is already out, and will greet the audience visiting the 2018 Paris Auto Show early next month.

The development of the platform-sharing Supra is well underway, too, and with the Japanese sports car about to be unveiled, one would naturally assume that talks between Toyota and BMW must be frequent.

However, they would be wrong, because, believe it or not, the Supra’s engineers last talked to BMW’s guys some four years ago. The information was brought forward by CNET, who talked to the Supra Assistant Chief Engineer Masayuki Kai after driving a prototype of the sports car in Madrid, Spain.

Also Watch: New-Age 2019 Toyota Supra Prototype Impresses In First Review

“We agreed on the packaging, like where is the hip-point of the driver, what’s the wheelbase, the width, where’s the fuel tank, where’s the A-pillar, this was around the middle of 2014”, said the Toyota official. “After that, we completely separated our team. After that, no communication with each other.”

Still, the decision to co-develop the new Z4 and Supra was taken back in 2012, so until 2014 they had plenty of time to get things started. But due to the communication black-out, Kai doesn’t even know how many components are shared between the two vehicles, except for the platform.

“Basically, the platform is the same, so we assume that we are using the same components, but as I mentioned, we are not sure that they will use the same components”, commented Masayuki Kai.

Now, the communication black-out can only be good news for both BMW and Toyota enthusiasts, as it assures that both cars have distinct driving dynamics. Just how much they differ from one another is a very good question, one that should be answered when the new Supra finally comes out next year.