More Rumors on the Lexus/BMW Sports Car Collaboration

Posted by Kevin on June 10th, 2014

Georg Kacher from CAR Magazine has some new details on rumored sports car being developed by Lexus & BMW:

Developed under the codename Silk Road 2, the proposed BMW Z7 and Lexus ZC/ZR are cutting-edge sports cars which will cost around €90,000, or £73,000. Slap bang in Porsche Carrera territory, then.

This will be the first mid-engined mainstream two-seater for both brands – as well as the first plug-in hybrid sports car with a six-cylinder engine.

Due to see the light in late 2018 or early 2019, SR2 will be developed in Munich for both brands. And providing the firepower are two different calibrations of what is essentially the same twin-turbo in-line 3.0-litre straight six.

The aggregate power output would be in the 400 to 500bhp bracket, which will be needed to overcome what our engineering sources predict will be a kerbweight under 1650 kilos.

The idea of BMW & Lexus collaborating on a sub-$100k sports car is much more believable than earlier rumors of an LFA II supercar, and likely closer to the truth considering the source.

(Still not sure about these two rivals working together, but having a Porsche 911 competitor in the Lexus lineup make up for it.)

[Source: CAR Magazine Image: Best Car]

Comments

J
jezze
June 10, 2014

well this will be interesting since lexus and bmw has a gripe with each other for quite a while now

L
Lasse J. Nordvik
June 10, 2014

Difficult to know what to believe,as there is no less than four different cars "churning" in this particular rumour mill: a mid-range Lexus sportscar,an LFA successor,a Lexus entry-level roadster and the Toyota GT-1/Supra. The first seems most likely to me as a) a follow-up to the LFA would most likely be with Yamaha and Devotek (gear box) as collaborators,not BMW,b)a two-seat drop-top sportscar could be based on the RC-platform and not require outside assistance,c)it's been said by Toyota officials that the GT-1/Supra will be an all-Toyota project.

M
MD
June 10, 2014

This is much more believable and more inline with what was stated earlier by Toyota/BMW that they will be collaborating on a sports car. No way Lexus will let BMW come anywhere close to the LFA 2. That is the halo project and defines what the brand is capable of. BMW has never developed anything remotely close to what the LFA was (and what the LFA 2 can become). There is no way BMW is coming close anywhere to that. Mark my words.

L
lafars
June 11, 2014

lexus can rely on the 988hp hybrid-system of the TS040 for a LFA 2

A
Absolut Sabs
June 10, 2014

Could it turn out to be great if it were true?

R
Ray
June 10, 2014

This Lexus BMW car is starting to become myth. Not even official prototype from both manufacturers ever display to the auto world. Remind me of Toyota Ford coloboration, which end up with no result.

I
Iggyhop9
June 10, 2014

With Toyota and Subaru, the FT-86 premiered in Oct 2009 and was on sale by May 2012, so less than 3 years from concept date. Honestly, that wasn't too bad. I think people were so starved for a sports car from Toyota that it seemed like FOREVER. With this car, a typical development timeline of 5 years is normal, but since Lexus cut down on the number of people involved in the decision making process(3 individual IIRC), I could see a 2018 model being a very real possibility.

L
Levi
June 10, 2014

BS. GT86 successor, new Supra, Z4 successor called Z5 and Z3 are the cars developed together. Maybe yet the new 6 Series and the SC (LF-SC), all based on new CF/alu sports car platform. LFAII is Lexus ONLY. More than that, BMW and Toyota are not mid-rear engine car builder, just a Mercedes. They build cars with engine in (mid-)front. This rumors sounds like a half-arsed NSXII rival, but the NSX will be on a whole other level, being a faster car than current GT-R.

P
PG
June 10, 2014

What supports this is the fact that the mid-level sports car market seems to grow rapidly. In recent years the Porsche 911 has been rivaled by new entrants like the Audi R8, Jaguar F-Type, and soon-to-launch Maserati Alfieri and Mercedes-AMG GT. Since these are the main rivals of both BMW and Lexus, it would only make sense for these two to enter this segment.

G
gsingh
June 11, 2014

Any sports car that Lexus and BMW do together - all of the media's credit will go to BMW. Even if all BMW did was calibrate the shocks, the media would pretty much say that BMW did all of the brainwork. Even though Lexus engineers probably run circles around their BMW counterparts, the myth of German Engineering is quite prevalent. Even though all the Germans have ever really been able to make are expensive luxury cars that break down all the time.

A
Ayo DocMkize
June 11, 2014

Agreed Krew if this is Porsche 911 competitor then by all means LExBM sports coupe must be done we Lexus fans support the collabo 100%!

S
Seven23
August 12, 2014

It will take time to produce another lfa they could build a car could go the Market earlier !!

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