BMW and Toyota Motor Corporation today signed binding agreements aimed at long-term collaboration between the two companies, and confirmed joint development of a mid-size sports car. They will collaborate on joint development of a fuel cell system, lightweight technologies, and lithium-air batteries.

It sounds pretty exciting. After seeing the result of Toyota’s collaboration with Subaru  – the GT86/BRZ – we can’t wait to find out what their BMW-developed sports car would be like. Those plans for fuel cell and new battery systems are also quite interesting, especially the lithium-air technology. These are a post-lithium-battery solution, with energy density that greatly exceeds that of current lithium-ion batteries.

The Fuel Cell program will take a while to come to fruition. They will be cooperating on developing a fuel cell stack and system, but also a hydrogen tank, motor and battery, aiming for completion in 2020. The companies will help each other in developing lightweight technologies for vehicle bodies using cutting-edge materials such as reinforced composites

As part of the agreement, BMW Group is to supply highly efficient diesel engines to Toyota Motor Europe.