Toyota sources diesel engines from BMW, sports car development might take a back seat

Toyota’s association with BMW seems to have borne the fruit already with the Japanese car maker using a BMW sourced engine for its 2014 Verso. The two car majors inked a deal to develop a joint-sports car platform. 

This is not a one of case of borrowing engines and Toyota has plans to use the BMW-sourced diesel engines for a slew of its models.The Toyota Verso 2014 is powered by a 1.6-litre diesel engine that produces 110bhp and 270Nm of torque. This engine is suited for transverse mounting and is used in the Mini range of cars owned by BMW. They also have plans to source another 2.0-litre engine from BMW.

Toyota will receive "a whole family of transverse diesel engines" thanks to a recent agreement with BMW, states Auto Express. Gerald Killmann, European Projects Director at Toyota’s R&D Centre in Belgiumsaid, “Considering that diesel passenger car sales are mainly concentrated in Europe, and that producing a new diesel engine would require significant development work, we came to the conclusion that, in this instance, the best solution was to co-operate with another manufacturer rather than develop a unit ourselves.”

In an interesting take on the sports car business Killmann said, “Sales of the GT 86 have been lower than expected in all major markets. This makes the case for a high-performance variant harder.” He then explained, "A faster version of that car would be at the top of most people's wish lists, but like the cabriolet, it is hard to justify a business case to push either model into production based on the current sales."

In India, Toyota uses the 1.4-litre D-4D diesel engine in the Etios, Etios Liva and the Corolla, while the Camry is offered in a petrol only option. Will Toyota use the BMW sourced 1.6-litre engine in the Corolla and the second 2.0-litre engine for the Camry in India? Only time will tell. 

This leaves us with many thoughts to ponder: Will Toyota and BMW scrap the idea of producing a sports car together and end up sharing technology and components? Watch this space for more on this interesting tie-up between Toyota and BMW.