It’s no secret BMW and Toyota are collaborating on a sports car, but what will lie under the hood could prove to be a surprise.
The project will likely spawn the next-generation Z4 and the highly anticipated successor to the Toyota Supra, previewed by the FT-1 Concept. According to Autocar UK, the finished product under both brands will use a new supercapacitor-based hybrid powertrain inspired by the one in the Toyota TS030 Le Mans race car.
Both cars will be front-engined and all-wheel-drive, and powered by a 2.0-litre engine developed by BMW. Details on the supercapacitor-based system are still murky, but Toyota has previewed the basics of what it can do to rework such a system for a production vehicle with the Yaris Hybrid-R concept.
The Yaris Hybrid-R is powered by a 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine good for 300 horsepower, mated to two 60-horsepower electric motors that power the rear wheels. Supercapacitor-based hybrid systems typically allow for more efficient regenerative-braking, repurposing that energy for a larger performance boost.
As for chassis development and engineering, it is said BMW is leading the way and implementing techniques form the i3 and the i8.
