Industry News: Rumorpile: Where Does BMW and Toyota Plan To Build Their New Joint Sports Car?

[William Maley]

The long-rumored joint roadster/sports car project that BMW and Toyota are working on has found a home for production. German newspaper Kleine Zeitung reports Magna Steyr - a unit of Magna International based in Canada and specializes in building low-volume models - has been contracted by BMW to build a new model at the Graz, Austria plant starting in 2018. The plan is to have an annual production run of 60,000 vehicles.

 

BMW has confirmed that it will be contracting Magna Steyr to build a new model next year after deciding it would end production of the Countryman and Paceman at the factory - possibly the next 5-Series sedan. The Paceman will be axed while the Countryman will be moved to the Netherlands to the factory that produces the standard MINI.

 

Neither BMW or Magna Steyr commented on what the model would be.

 

Considering the low production numbers in question, many believe that is reserved for the new BMW roadster (possibly named Z5) and the Toyota Supra.

 

Source: Automotive News Europe (Subscription Required), Kleine Zeitung

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[G. David Felt]

While I would not say 60,000 is a low volume production, when looked at the 6 Billion humans, then yes low production. Be interesting to see what they come up with.

[Robert Hall]

Compared to typical Toyota volumes, 60k is miniscule...

[Drew Dowdell]

Compared to typical Toyota volumes, 60k is miniscule...

 

That's more than most Scions lately.... so now you know why they had to die.