BMW/Toyota joint venture has progressed to the stage that Magna Steyr in Austria will be the build base.

BMW and Toyota have picked Magna Steyr to build their upcoming roadster developed from a joint platform, according to a report.

The next generation BMW Z4, likely to be called the Z5, and the Toyota Supra successor will run off the assembly line in the contract manufacturer's plant in Graz, Austria, starting 2018, the Kleine Zeitung local newspaper reported. It said annual production of 60,000 cars is planned for the two models.

BMW has said it will contract Magna Steyr to build a new model next year after it decided to end production of the Mini Paceman and Countryman in Graz this year but has not named the model. The Countryman likely will be built at the VDL Nedcar factory in the Netherlands that already produces the Mini hatchback, although BMW has not yet disclosed the new production location. The Paceman is being axed.

A Magna Steyr spokesman said the company was not yet permitted to say which BMW model would replace production of the Paceman and Countryman.

Spokespeople at BMW and Toyota Europe declined comment on the Kleine Zeitung report.

The current Z4 has been on the market since May 2009 and BMW executives said early this year that no final approval had been given for a replacement despite the completion of feasibility studies.

Demand for two-seaters is largely dormant, which prompted BMW to ax the Mini Coupe and Roadster, along with the Paceman. Z4 sales fell 47 percent in the first quarter and the model accounts for just three-tenths of 1 percent of BMW brand’s volume.

When asked then by Automotive News Europe whether it was still financially worth competing in the roadster segment, BMW CEO Harald Krueger said the company's cooperation with Toyota would help. "BMW has a long roadster tradition," he said. "We will occupy the segment once more. It's not big, but it's important for the strength of the brand."

Magna Steyr is a unit of Canada's Magna International and its specialty is building low volume cars, ideal for a niche model like a roadster. The Graz factory currently builds the Mercedes G class SUV and will add an as yet unnamed Jaguar Land Rover model in 2017. Production of the Peugeot RCZ coupe at the plant ended last year.

Earlier this month Magna Steyr said retooling works at the Graz plant are on schedule and will be completed next year. It forecast that annual production at Graz will surpass 200,000 vehicles in 2018. Last year Graz built 103,904 cars.

Christiaan Hetzner

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Toyota to have one of its biggest ranges of car from all era's at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2015.

• Toyota Gazoo Racing’s world championship-winning TS040 Hybrid Le Mans racer in action on the Goodwood hill, with British star drivers Anthony Davidson and Mike Conway
• Three Camry NASCAR racers and Rod Millen’s legendary Pikes Peak Celica included in Toyota’s American contingent
• GT86 coupes in historic racing liveries to star in the festival’s Moving Motor Show
• Wealth of classic World Rally Championship Toyotas in action on the rally stage
• GT86 Drift Experience at the Goodwood circuit

Toyota promises an exceptional line-up of race, rally and road cars at this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed (25 – 28 June), celebrating decades of sporting and engineering success.

Toyota will return to the Goodwood Festival of Speed as World Champions, celebrating the car and drivers who delivered a dominant performance in the 2014 World Endurance Championship. 

Toyota Gazoo Racing and their World Champion driver Anthony Davidson, plus fellow British squad member Mike Conway will be sharing driving duties in this season’s TS040 Hybrid car, fresh from its challenge in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The team’s presence will be the highlight in an exception line-up of Toyota race, road and rally cars at the festival, which takes place from 25 to 28 June.

Goodwood’s famous hillclimb course will witness speed runs by three Camry race cars from the USA’s premier NASCAR series, representing the Red Bull Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Kyle Busch Motorsports teams. 

Mike Skinner will also be muscling his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Tacoma up the course and there will be a crowd-pleasing return for Rod Millen and his ultra-rapid Pikes Peak Celica.

Three decades of Toyota World Rally Championship history will be taking to Goodwood’s special stage, including runs by the Celica TE27, RA40, ST205, ST185 and the extreme TA64 Group B car, plus the WRC Corolla and John Midgley’s historic AE86.

Toyota’s GT86 will be the focus of attention in Goodwood’s Moving Motor Show, the curtain-raiser to the festival on 25 June. 

A fleet of six coupes will be available for customer drives, each finished in a retro racing livery celebrating great Toyota sports and race cars of the past, including the Shelby 2000GT, the Castrol Celica GT-Four and the IMSA GTU Celica. Lowered springs, retro-style alloys and a stainless steel exhaust system add to the classic look and sound of the cars.

Anyone wanting a more full-blooded introduction to the handling performance that defines GT86 as a genuine driver’s car can head for the Goodwood circuit where the GT86 Drift Experience will be back in action. Last year more than 300 people enjoyed the chance to get (safely) sideways.

The GT86 will be on display at the Toyota pavilion throughout the festival, joined by a Britcar racing version. 

For a (virtual) taste of what the GT86 can deliver, a driving simulator will be available. 

Visitors will have a close-up view of the classic 2000GT sports car from the 1960s, a 1980s Supra and, representing the future direction of Toyota design, the fabulous FT-1 Concept. The new Aygo and the TS040 Hybrid race car will also be on show.