Report: Toyota to supply BMW with hybrid drivetrains under new collaboration

BMW Toyota Partnership

News reports coming out of Japan today say that Toyota and BMW will further strengthen their recently developed partnership on producing fuel-efficient vehicles. According to Japan’s Nikkei business daily, Toyota will now supply BMW with hybrid powertrains and hydrogen fuel-cell technology.

Nikkei said that Toyota President Akio Toyoda and BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer will formally make an announcement this week.

In December 2011, BMW and Toyota announced that the German automaker would supply the Japanese automaker with small displacement diesel engines for vehicles sold in Europe starting in 2014. In return, Toyota would work closely with BMW to produce lithium ion batteries for hybrid vehicles.

Following that the two signed a battery research agreement in March and according to Toyota spokesman Joichi Tachikawa, both left the door open for further collaboration.

“We’ve announced that we will have r&d cooperation with BMW on environmental technologies,” Tachikawa said. “There are many possibilities with many technologies.”

– By: Omar Rana

Source: AutoNews