BMW Group и Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) ще си сътрудничат в средносрочен и дългосрочен план при разработката на екологични технологии от следващо поколение. Меморандум за разбирателство в този смисъл бе подписан на 1 декември 2011 г. в Токио. В рамките на споразумението двата концерна планират съвместна работа при фундаменталните разработки на технологиите за литиево-йонни батерии от следващо поколение. Освен това двата концерна проучват и възможностите за сътрудничество и при други проекти.
Едновременно с това BMW Group и Toyota Motor Europe (TME), европейското дъщерно предприятие на Toyota Motor Corporation, договориха и доставката на ефективни дизелови двигатели на BMW Group на TME. Договорът предвижда през 2014 година да започне доставката на TME за 1,6- и 2-литрови дизелови двигатели за автомобилите с марката Toyota в Европа. С тези двигатели Toyota планира да увеличи продажбите на автомобили с нисък разход на гориво и емисии на CO2.
Норберт Райтхофер, председател на Управителния съвет на BMW AG коментира: „Toyota е лидер при производството на екологични серийни технологии при масовите автомобили, а BMW Group е най-иновативният и с най-устойчиво развитие производител на премиум-автомобили. С тази стъпка ние обединяваме нашите усилия, за да ускорим разработките на екологични технологии и да наложим нашето технологично превъзходство в съответните сегменти. С доставката на нашите ефективни и динамични дизелови двигатели на Toyota ние продължавате да разгръщаме планираните продажби на задвижващи системи.”
Президентът на TMC Акио Тойода: „Съвместната работа с BMW Group ни доставя голяма радост. BMW е производител с дългогодишни традиции в автомобилостроенето в Европа, като автомобилите им са се превърнали в олицетворение на радостта от шофирането. За да ускорим развитието на автомобилната индустрия и обществото, двата концерна ще обединят своите всеобхватни знания и опит – на първо време в областта на екологичните технологии – за да могат да произвеждат още по-добри автомобили.”

BMW Group -Toyota Collaboration

Remarks by Takeshi Uchiyamada
Executive Vice President
Toyota Motor Corporation

Good afternoon!
I thank you all for joining us today for this very important and exciting announcement.
We at Toyota have long focused on creating technologies for making cars greener, safer, and more fun to drive. You can see that focus in the models that we are showing here at the motor show; for example: the Prius PHV, which we will soon launch; the Aqua, a new compact hybrid; and the Hachi-roku, a pure sports car.
Meanwhile, vehicle ownership is growing rapidly in the world’s emerging economies.That increases the importance of minimizing environmental impact and optimizing energy management.
We at Toyota think that we will need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels in powering automobiles. So, we are promoting the use of hybrid technology.
We have sold more than three-point-four million hybrid vehicles since we launched the first-generation Prius in nineteen ninety-seven. We estimate that those vehicles have reduced consumption of petroleum fuels by eight million kiloliters and that they have reduced output of carbon dioxide by twenty-three million tons.
We will also make efforts to replace petroleum fuel by tapping the potential of electricity, biofuel, hydrogen, and other alternative energies. And we at Toyota are exploring possibilities across a full range of technologies.
The battery technology that we will develop with BMW will be the core technology for both reducing and replacing petroleum fuel.
We at Toyota are already using lithium-ion batteries in hybrids and plug-in hybrids, but it is necessary for us to further improve these lithium-ion batteries.
We have chosen to work with BMW in this area first. German manufacturers have accumulated a great deal of excellent fundamental technology in regard to renewable energies and battery power. BMW is a good example of German attainment in those technological sectors. We think that this collaboration will allow for development of next-generation batteries to be done faster and to a higher level. We think that another factor for the realization of this collaboration was that BMW showed interest in our battery technology.
Next-generation lithium-ion battery power could allow for powering cars with clean energy from solar cells and from wind turbines. It could even allow for integrating cars into intelligent power grids for optimizing power supply and demand. That would be a new step forward in fulfilling the traditional Toyota commitment to contribute to society through quality automobiles.
To touch upon the other area of collaboration, it is clear that BMW has superior strength in clean diesel technology. Diesel engines from BMW will strengthen our product line in Europe. You will hear more about that subject from Mr. Leroy.
Regarding areas apart from the two I have raised, we would like to discuss other possible collaborative projects.
We have always thought there is a lot to learn from Europe’s automotive culture and from the European tradition of automotive engineering. BMW is a premium brand that represents that culture and tradition, and we hope to learn a great deal through this mid-to-long term collaboration.
Thank you.

Remarks by Didier Leroy
President and CEO, Toyota Motor Europe
Managing Officer, Toyota Motor Corporation

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, members of the press.
We have been working since April of this year together with our partners at BMW Group, on the contents of this collaboration.
The Supply and Development agreement we signed today for the BMW produced 1.6 and 2.0 litre diesel engines is the first outcome of that work and is one facet of what we expect will be a larger collaboration bringing benefits to both companies and to our customers.
Engineering work is already underway, but we will begin to take supply of the first engines in 2014. And while we are not prepared yet to share with you which models will get the engines, I can say we will be focusing on locally produced products.
At Toyota, we believe that tackling the environmental challenges facing our industry will require more than a single approach. And though hybrid is clearly at the core of our strategy towards sustainable mobility, clean diesel will also play a role.
Particularly in Europe, where customers have come to appreciate diesel, we feel that by continuing to offer a line-up of clean diesels, we can complement our growing range of hybrids as the market evolves.  And by working together with an industry leader like BMW, we think we can do this more efficiently, realizing improved scale, reduced development costs and quicker speed to market.  It will also allow us to better focus our efforts on leading the advance in hybrid technology.
BMW has demonstrated their expertise in modern diesel technology and we are proud to work with a company that has such an excellent reputation in the market.
Fundamentally we are both engineering companies, so in many aspects we have found that we speak the same language. And it is interesting to see what can be achieved when Japanese engineering meets European engineering and when the cooperation really works.
Going forward, our teams will be working closely together to deliver well-integrated applications of proven BMW diesel technology in a range of Toyota vehicles. And in doing so, I suspect we will both have an opportunity to learn from each other in the way we work.
Of course we will remain competitors, but the collaboration has been excellent so far and will deliver what the partners and the market expect.
This cooperation initiative is also a demonstration of Toyota’s new Global Vision in action, with the region playing an increasingly important role in determining and securing local product requirements to the benefit of our customers.
Thank you for your attention.