Interviews w/ Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada (Post Launch)

KahnBB6 said:

This is very encouraging news!

Option C (the S58-TT 500hp engine with a manual) is the most ideal but I get it that he has to prioritize A or B right now. It's been hinted at many times already that the GRMN and GT4 variants will be auto or DCT only and those models will come regardless within the model's production cycle.

Without question I hope he gives the manual B58 Supra priority. Now is the time to do it.

With what has already been published regarding the tuning potential of the existing B58 engine and as well as its true bone stock output on the dyno a 6-speed M/T option is exactly what the car needs.

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mkivalex said:

Give me a confirmation a manual is coming and i will be at the dealer that day with a deposit!

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oakleyguy said:

I agree Option C, especially since BMW has confirmed the G series M3/4 will have a manual transmission available.

Otherwise, I suppose a manual transmission would be my first pick. We can always look to the aftermarket for a bit more power.

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Oh what a feeling, BMW sports car

Partnerships and co-development arrangements are becoming increasingly common in the automotive world.

They allow companies to split costs, benefit from a rival’s expertise and get a car in their showroom for less money and risk than is the norm.

But they’re not straightforward affairs.

Take the partnership between BMW and Toyota to create the new Z4/Supra: as the Supra’s chief engineer Tetsuda Tada explained at the car’s launch in Victoria recently, it took years of negotiating, tantrums, innovation and stubbornness to get the cars into dealerships.

Speaking via a translator, Tada said the genesis of the project came in 2012 when he received a call while in Barcelona on a media event for the just-released 86.

“They said, ‘Tomorrow, don’t tell anybody, but go to Munich and BMW headquarters’,” he said.

Tada wasn’t told why he was meeting the German premium brand, but he couldn’t help letting his mind run wild.

“The straight-six engine is the DNA of Supra, around 2012 this type of high-performance engine was only made by BMW ... instinctively, I thought: ‘Maybe we make a Supra?’”

The project was given the green light, but the companies found agreeing on ideas difficult.

Toyota was fresh off collaborating with Subaru for the 86, however, co-developing a car was new ground for BMW — as was interacting with a mainstream brand.

Tada recalls a time when the two companies drove each other’s sports cars.

“I could see, it was like the first time they’d driven a Toyota car,” he said. “Of course, we buy every BMW car and try driving them; unfortunately they’d never tried a Toyota. They didn’t actually understand the significance of the co-development. They actually said, ‘We have no consultation for you, just tell us what you want to do and we’ll make it for you’.”

There were also issues at executive level. Current Volkswagen chairman Herbert Diess was in charge on the BMW side and, while he understood the passion for a traditional sports car, the business case didn’t stack up.

The idea of making a successor to the hybrid and electric i8 supercar was floated, but Tada — who had joined Toyota just as it had abandoned making the sports cars he fell in love with in his youth — wasn’t about to compromise.

“I was like a spoiled little child; I didn’t want to do it,” he admitted. “A pure gasoline sports car — that’s what I wanted to make.”

Toyota’s top brass weren’t happy with him and he was concerned for his future.

But the turning point was when Klaus Frohlich replaced Diess at BMW.

Tada said the thinking went from purely practical, to having an eye on passion.

“(Frohlich) said, ‘If you want to make a pure sports car that much, let’s do it together’.”

The Porsche Boxster and Cayman were the benchmark. The two companies agreed no existing platform could compare, so new architecture with a short wheelbase and wide track was developed.

Toyota was doubtful such dimensions would work. As it’s custom for Toyota to create a pre-production prototype of every new car, the engineers took a 4Runner SUV, cut a portion out of it, lowered it and stuck it back together.

Directors all drove the protoype and ticked off on the new platform’s production.

From there, the BMW and Toyota teams split in two, with each creating its own design, engine settings, suspension etc.

Though Toyota borrowed hardware from BMW — hence the similarities in the cabins — it used its own software.

Given Toyota had a history of coupes and BMW a history of convertibles, it was agreed early on there would be a simple point of separation between the two cars.

“They’re very different sports cars, but I could confirm the (Z4’s) greatness,” Tada said after a test drive.

When Tada returned the favour on the completion of the Supra, he was expecting a laundry list of things to change.

“But surprisingly they said nothing; they gave me no requests,” he said.

Which leads to the inevitable question of which car is better?

“The question doesn’t make sense,” Tada said. “If you like open car, buy Z4. If you like a coupe, please buy a Supra.”

“I tell the dealers that worldwide and I’m sure the BMW dealers would say the same thing - so neither of us is making any loss.”

Tada said it was vital car companies look past their differences to ensure performance cars can still be made.

“The sports car market is so small, the way you have to sell it must be different from now on,” he said.

“All of us have to actually work together not to lose the market. So the collaboration was great.”

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