Same – But Different

How Toyota and BMW managed to design two very different cars out of the same fundamental DNA.

More than anything else, there are two things that dictate automotive design. One is safety regulations – for occupants and for pedestrians – and the other is aerodynamics. This is mostly why today’s vehicles are often criticised for all looking “the same”. Look at blacked-out silhouettes of the leading contenders in any automotive segment and you’ll find that they are, indeed, all remarkably similar, with only a different grille, wheels and head/taillamps to distinguish them.

Which is why the two very different cars you are looking at here are so remarkable. They’re fundamentally the same car. Like, actually the same car. The result of a cost-sharing collab between Toyota and BMW, not only do they share a chassis, but each also has the same six-cylinder, 3.0-litre turbocharged engine. Yet, clearly, each brand has cleverly brewed up some very different design features.

The most obvious difference between the two is the fact that one is a roadster and the other a coupé – but there are other significant elements that distinguish East from West. Leading the BMW brigade is the group’s Dutch design director, Adrian van Hooydonk. He and his black-polo-necked team have penned a sleeker, more elegant design that looks more like a low-flying cruise missile than it does the racetrack-ready Supra that chief designer Nobuo Nakamura and his crew have sculpted.

The Z4 features an expanded and flattened version of the signature kidney grille that also functions as the main air inlet – the lower inlets are mostly blocked off and have more of an aesthetic function than anything else. The Supra inverts this with a solid nose and

large functional inlets below it that also have a downforce-inducing aerodynamic purpose.

Headlamps too offer differing executions, with the BMW’s almost on the side of the car and extending over the front fender, while the Toyota’s are decidedly more forwardfacing, with more aero intakes flanking each light. Viewed from the side, Supra’s racier personality gets amplified by more intake elements above the front fenders and ahead of the rear ones. It’s this intake on the door panel, along with a lower character line that swoops up and over the Supra’s flared fender, that gives the Japanese car a genuinely muscular and aggressive stance.

The rear styling only echoes all of this, with the Z4’s sleeker rear lights and tail a direct contrast to the Supra’s blunter, more pragmatic approach. Although the shared platform dictates an identical 2 469mm wheelbase, the Supra is marginally longer, lower and narrower, further adding to its more aggressive silhouette.

You’ll notice this different character behind the wheel too, and while they share the same drivetrains and suspension, each has been tuned slightly differently. And it’s resulted in something of a surprise: the Supra may look more aggressive, but in Sport+ mode it’s the Z4 that feels edgier, with the Japanese car, on the other hand, feeling smoother and more linear in its power delivery.

And there you have it – same-same, but different. Two great cars that share the same DNA, yet manage to look and feel noticeably different. And in this era of sustainability, this is the kind of automotive cost-sharing that should be applauded.