BMW Reportedly in Talks with Toyota to Share Future City Car Platform
Another week, another new rumored partner for MINI platform sharing. This week it’s Toyota and the next generation iQ. For those that don’t know, the Toyota iQ is a somewhat revolutionary city car that (through intelligent packaging and engineering) delivers more interior space than a Smart car while being relatively the same size.
First reported on by Insideline and then Autocar the talks are in the earliest stages. However the idea is that MINI could share the platform and some interior components to help develop a new range of MINIs smaller than the current R56 two door hatch.
<p>THIS would cool. To have a classic-sized (or smaller) Mini in modern threads? Suh-weet.</p>
<p>Now that would be MINI!</p>
<p>Wonder how close they are going to get to the size of the original minis?</p>
<p>Talk about creating a retort for the traditionalists who are all up in arms about the R60’s girth…</p>
<p>Well, Aston Martin is using the iQ with an Aston-like nose and tail being applied and offered to current Aston Martin owners for 20,000 Pounds (about $32k at today’s rates)! Talk about exclusivity! Or stupidity! Aston call it the Cygnet. Being offered to absolve Aston owners guilt-I wonder? So why not, BMW?!</p>
<p>The more I read about the iQ, the more excited I get… there’s a whole lot of innovation in the car in order to make it stable and safe for its’ size. I whole lot of excellent R&D done by Toyota, here. Most reviews of the current model in Japan and Europe are extremely positive. Several reviewers were flat-out shocked by its’ feel and presence. I dunno how much of the current cars’ architecture and innards would come over to a Mini variant, but you can look at any picture of an iQ next to a picture of a classic Mini and see how easy it would be to translate it’s silhouette to accommodate the Mini’s face and personality. I can’t imagine this platform lending itself to a JCW package at the moment, but it would be a fabulous commuter car- and if BMW could up the ante with the interior and fit and finish, while keeping the price reasonable, it could be a smash in the bigger cities stateside.</p>
<p>i’ve liked the buzz around this iQ car. it will be neat to see in this year’s auto shows. not really seeing how they’d ‘mini-fy’ it though. they could pull it of as the new isetta though…</p>
<p>ps – you have an error in your inside line link…</p>
<p>Man, BMW/Mini seems to have become the desparate girl at the dance, just trying everyone to see if they can “hook up”! Reading between the lines here this is a bit worrysome. Seems that economies of scale are forcing anything to be built for more than MINI sized markets, and I’m guessing that means that the squeeze is on for economic viability of the small car segment.</p>
<p>When you see stuff like this and past information here like the economics of the R60 wasn’t first and foremost a consideration in it’s design and that the Coupster had to be made on the R57 shell for cost reasons makes me really wonder what the next few years hold in store for MINI.</p>
<p>Time will tell for sure….</p>
<p>Matt</p>
<p>This ain’t your father’s auto world. Things sure are a’changing fast.</p>
<p>I just read a report talking about Toyota possible using the Coopster as a basis for its’ own future sports car- could this be part of the same deal? Platforms traded like baseball cards?</p>
<p>I read the same report about the platform sharing going both ways. Way too early to see at this point, but it seems like a good deal for Mini in that Toyota would get a modified version of a platform born in 2008.</p>
<p>I’m all for a smaller Mini, but I want a sports car version like the Smart Roadster instead of something like the iQ or Fortwo shape.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I just read a report talking about Toyota possible using the Coopster as a basis for its’ own future sports car- could this be part of the same deal? Platforms traded like baseball cards?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Nope… someone got really confused when they overheard the platform sharing conversation. The Coopster is simply based on the R57 which will make absolutely no sense to share with Toyota.</p>
<p>Glad to hear that Gabe (i.e., Toyota will not get to make their version of the Coopster/Roadster)! As for the iQ, I think it’s a very well-packaged and innovative city vehicle. I love the looks as well, relative to Toyota’s design language. And it is reportedly quite fun to fling around despite that not being the main intent of Toyota’s engineers.
So my concern with BMW’s potentially sharing a platform with a japanese manufacturer is neither aesthetic (body styling can be quite flexible these days to allow sufficient differentiation) nor dynamic (ditto for suspension tuning) – I am more concerned about having a future MINI that does not use double-galvanized steel and thus would have greatly diminished corrosion resistance. I’m not at all keen on a euro car with reduced corrosion resistance due to sharing an assembly facility using an inferior paint process. If someone can confirm that the paint process at the Toyota iQ assembly facility is comparable to what BMW currently uses at Oxford I could park that issue… anyone have more detail on this? Anyone know Toyota’s corrosion warranty on the iQ (this can be a good indicator of the paint pretreatment operation)?</p>
p>@bee1000</p
<p><em>I’m all for a smaller Mini, but I want a sports car version like the Smart Roadster instead of something like the iQ or Fortwo shape.</em></p>
<p>You likely read the news story about the proposed upcoming replacement from smart for the Roadster and Coupe that went out of production a few years ago. The proposed replacement would feature <em>three</em> seats…cool stuff. I wouldn’t mind to see the previous smart Roadster and Coupe resurrected, as AC Cars was to have done a few years ago.</p>
<p>I hadn’t read about the 3-seat Smarts. I’m just catching up to the world of automotive blogs these days so other than Minis, I’m out-of-date with the rumors unless they show up in Top Gear magazine.</p>
<p>Plug for the printed Top Gear, by the way. It is an incredible piece. The money they spend on photography and locations must trump the entire operating budgets of something like Car and Driver. A couple issues ago they had a 40-page feature on Las Vegas and the California coast that was a work of art. Sure, many of the models they cover aren’t available in the US, but it doesn’t much matter to me since I’m not buying any of them either way!</p>
<p>Good news. I hope they make it work. The IQ could make it into my garage, but I’d rather have a mini badged version of it.</p>
<p>This is indeed good news. The iQ is getting good buzz from foreign press. Both Toyota and Mini stand to gain from this.</p>
<p>Hopefully some of Mini’s handling and performance and Toyota’s reliablity can be merged into a new small car.</p>
<p>Now THIS might be a MINI-worthy project. Not sure any deals will really come of this (rumore being rumors and all), but one has to admire the kind of clever engineering and packaging that inspired the Mini in the first place.</p>
<p>I wonder if they are going to name it Isetta.</p>
<p>aston cygnet, take two. toyota has a crush on the british.</p>
<p>please make it nicer looking than the upcoming troll of a coupe.</p>