BMW, Toyota to Decide on Sports Car Project by Year-End

Toyota Motor Corp. tells Reuters the company and BMW AG will decide by the end of this year whether to approve plans to jointly develop a sports car. The companies announced the collaboration in 2013.

The companies are analyzing the feasibility of jointly developing a platform for sports cars that would be designed and marketed separately by each company.

Johan van Zyl, who heads Toyota's European operations, says preliminary work is progressing "quite well." BMW said earlier this week the companies were discussing whether to move beyond their analysis of a platform and general architecture for the car.

BMW and Toyota also are collaborating on fuel cell development and lightweighting technologies such as carbon-reinforced plastics. Those projects also are said to be progressing well.