Earlier today, Toyota & BMW signed an extended partnership agreement that builds on their initial agreement from last year:
The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at a long-term strategic collaboration in four fields: joint development of a fuel cell system, joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle, collaboration on powertrain electrification and joint research and development on lightweight technologies.
To recap the previous agreement:
In March 2012, the BMW Group and TMC signed a binding agreement on collaborative research in the field of next-generation lithium-ion battery cells. In addition, the BMW Group and Toyota Motor Europe entered into a contract in December last year, under which the BMW Group will supply highly efficient 1.6 litre and 2.0 litre diesel engines to Toyota Motor Europe starting in 2014.
How this extended partnership will affect Lexus is pure guesswork, but it stands to reason that Lexus engineers will have access to the technologies and platforms that are developed, including this “future sports vehicle” that’s mentioned.
For more coverage on this partnership, I recommend:
Text from TMC President Akio Toyoda’s speech
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