BMW and Toyota are moving ahead on a project to jointly develop a midsize sports car with an agreement on common underpinnings for the model.
The program to create the vehicle is “progressing according to plan,” BMW said on Monday after Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker, and BMW, the biggest producer of luxury vehicles, outlined plans for the sports car in early 2013.
Automakers are returning some production to Europe from China as cost advantages in the world’s biggest auto market weaken, providing an opportunity for central European nations to attract investments, a Volkswagen Group executive said.
While several years ago expectations were for a “massive transfer” of automobile operations to Asia to save on labor expenditures, “we
are seeing a rather opposite process at present,” said Martin Jahn, managing director of VW Group Fleet International.
