It’s been six years since we learned of the BMW-Toyota joint sports car project, and next month we’ll finally see what Toyota has created in the form of the all-new Supra. BMW previously unveiled its version, the new Z4, last summer. While both share a platform and an engine, the two vehicles have very different characters and even body styles. However, Toyota realized early on that if it wanted to do a reborn Supra, it would need an inline-six engine. Every previous Supra had one, and the Japanese have great respect for tradition.
Problem was, Toyota didn’t build an inline-six and it made no financial sense to spend boatloads of money to design and engineer one for a single model. What to do? Call the current inline-six experts, BMW.