By now, it’s pretty common knowledge among car enthusiasts that BMW and Toyota have been working together on a sports car chassis. That common chassis will underpin two new sports cars, the BMW Z4 and the Toyota Supra. There’s been a lot of speculation as to how much both cars will share. We know that they will share the same basic chassis but that tuning will be vastly different, so the Supra and Z4 will drive differently. We also know that they will share technology, as spy photos have been released of the Supra’s interior showing of iDrive tech from BMW. Now, though, there’s confirmation that the two cars will also share an engine.

While that seems a bit obvious, there were a few rumors that Toyota would be using its own twin-turbocharged V6 engine, rather than a BMW inline-six. However, it turns out that the Supra will be Bavarian-powered after all.

According to Toyota’s Vice President of Research & Development, Gerald Killman, who recently spoke with AutoRAI, “The platform is the same. The same applies to the powertrain.” It’s rumored that the Supra will share BMW’s B58 3.0 liter turbocharged inline-six, which is good news, as that’s one of the best six-cylinder engines on the planet. Also, the Supra has a rich tradition of using high-revving straight-six engines, so this engine fits the Supra well, despite being made by BMW.

Killman also said that the two will drive quite differently, despite sharing so much. “The styling is of course completely different and also the adjustment of the chassis will be very different.” he said So don’t expect a Toyota GT86/Subaru BRZ-type situation, where both cars are basically identical, save for badges and interiors.

Killman also says that the Toyota Supra will be an expensive car, something more performance-oriented than anything else Toyota makes. “It will not be a cheap car. There will be a clear difference between the GT86 and Supra. The GT86 remains the affordable sports car, the Supra becomes the performance model.”

We don’t know if the Supra will be more or less expensive than the BMW Z4 but it’s certainly going to be a premium model, rather than a budget offering. So don’t expect it to be a poor-man’s Z4. It’s going to be a proper sports car and we can’t wait to drive it.

[Source: The Torque Report]