Last year Toyota and BMW announced that they were combining forces for a new sports car project. Rumored to be an all-new Supra for Toyota and possibly the Z7 for BMW, the project began as a technical feasibility study back in January 2013. According to Bloomberg, that study has now been "successfully completed." So what's next? BMW says that the joint program "has moved on to the concept phase and is running according to plan."

For its part, Toyota wants "to put that energy back into the brand" after going for too long without a proper performance sports car. It needs BMW's help in that department. The German automaker is interested in gaining additional hybrid technology expertise from Toyota. Both, however, will save development costs by working together. Obviously the final production cars will have unique interior and exterior designs as well as driving traits, but will likely share a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter straight-six producing at least 400 horsepower. A hybrid motor will provide even more power and efficiency. The automakers have remained tight-lipped regarding pricing, but a launch date of around 2018-2019 is expected.