Carmaker1
Member
everyone don't let up, that mule ain't the Supra, this is all hype from fake articles written on unpopular car websites like Caradvice from Australia which then gets used as sources on Motor Trend and C&D articles. Anyone can try to draw similarities but until there is something actually official this is all bullshit. For my two cents, that mule is the Z5M.
Remember what Toyota did with the LF-LC and how that turned out with the Lexus LC...Toyota won't disappoint us here.
I have no idea why you believe that any of your assertions to have any single ounce of accuracy. This is an old post I am aware, but I honestly find it unfortunate no one else dismissed any of this drivel. Gymratter already made an excellent point, in that BMW have never for one day, been able to fully hide grilles on their mules and prototypes, unless some of the most expensive and exhaustive disguising techniques were applied, as they did back in the 1970s and 1980s.I get that the front end doesn't resemble the BMW kidney grills and that it looks different from the roadster mule we all saw earlier in the year but it still means nothing especially in the context that it makes zero sense for Toyota to be relying on BMW when they make three times the profits that BMW takes in and since they own no stake in BMW (unlike Toyota/Subaru).
I think the mule's design is possibly just not finished and/or wearing some really unattractive camo/bumper which has distorted the lines on it...you gotta remember there is still a lot of time remaining as Toyota won't dare release any official details until after the Lexus LC has been out for at least half a year just like how they announced the MKIV Supra half a year after the Lexus SC.
Since the 1990s with E38 prototypes during 1991-1993, they have not bothered to omit the trademark grills on prototypes as much until testing of E36 3-Series test cars in the 1989-90 period. The implementation of the Kidney Grilles in BMW fascias since then, makes it nearly impossible to have a "grille-less" appearance. No one has any reason to believe your silly theory, that this is somehow a Z5. It was an early prototype without the production interior, which isn't unheard of since prototypes progress in stages.
1972 BMW 5-Series (E12) testing in 1971
E36 Coupe Prototype in 1990
E38 7er Prototype 1991/92
As you can see, including the Z5 spy shots and with plenty of BMWs over the years, there is no such thing as (upper) grille-free BMW.
Car Advice do have a good degree of credibility regarding Japanese brands, especially Toyotas, unlike that of U.S. and UK sources. Japanese sources probably have the most insight in general, but the language barrier makes it harder for any news to spread around faster.
On another note, you seem to be unable to get your timelines right and now want to confuse fellow posters. The Z30 Soarer/SC went into production in APRIL 1991 and the JZA80 Supra (MKIV) in APRIL 1993. Not only that, they were designed years apart. Toyota commissioned Z30 development in 1987, nearly a year after the MKIII went into production in 1986 and that of the Z20 Soarer. By the end of 1988, styling of the Z30 was mostly established and later frozen in early 1989.
The JZA80 began in February 1989 and production design was frozen at the end of 1990, nearly 2 years after the SC. I don't see how that equals "announced the MKIV Supra half a year after the Lexus SC". Lexus announced the SC in May 1991 and the Supra was announced nearly 2 years later, not even on sale until June 1993. By the summer of 1992, Toyota was already finishing up design work on the '95 model year SC refresh and the MKIV still wasn't even out.
Also, unless you are referring to the stage of prototype and not that of the overall development programme, the design is very much finished, as the design was frozen around March 2015. Your point in that case wouldn't make sense.
The reason that BMW is so involved with testing these cars, is that they are in charge of chassis development and to a degree micromanaged mule development, even locking out many Toyota personnel from that side of things, save for a few. It is never good to comment on something in the manner that you did, when hardly even accurate in the first place.
Sponsored
Last edited: