We Know a Little More About the Next BMW Z4/Toyota Supra

New details about the future sports car born of the BMW/Toyota union have just surfaced. The German version will be called the Z4, while the Toyota model may be called the Supra.

The latest rumors talk about a 2-seater sports car, with a four cylinder of no more than 2 liters. The power will be sent to the rear wheels via a sequential gearbox, just like the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance racer. Speaking of LMP1 cars, Toyota plans on using another piece of tech from this race program.

• Also: Toyota Confirms FT-1 Concept Will Become The Next Supra
• Also: BMW-Toyota Super Coupe Set For 2017?

There is talk of fitting the future sport car’s brakes with an energy recovery system. This energy would then be sent to a supercapacitor. If the driver needs a burst of speed (for overtaking, or just before a sweet jump…) they can push a button on the steering wheel, and the power stored in the capacitors will be sent to a pair of electric motors in the front wheels. The car would then be an all-wheel drive car, at least temporarily. Toyota chose to use supercapacitors because they can store and release energy faster than batteries.

If you drove a last-gen Supra, you will probably miss the sweet-sounding inline 6 and the ridiculously long turbo lag. These cars needed to be tamed. You had to know exactly when the big turbo would start boosting, or else you were in for a nasty surprise.

But the Z4/Supra is far from done yet, and the automakers may yet surprise us.

For example, BMW already make a very nice inline 6, in the M3/M4…