BMW and Toyota Deepen Collaboration, will Co-Develop a Mid-Size Sports Car

After last June’s MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), the Toyota Motor Corporation and the BMW Group announced today the signing of binding agreements for the joint development of new technologies and a new sports car.

BMW Chairman Norbert Reithofer and Toyota President Akio Toyoda both expressed their satisfaction in signing the binding agreements and their shared belief that this partnership will be beneficial for their groups and help them to produce better vehicles.

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VCMC’s Turbocharged 350HP Scion FR-S Reviewed by Drive

Drive’s Tuned channel is back for the 2013 season and for its first web-episode, Matt Farah drove a Scion FR-S tuned by Canada’s VCMC and Shift Autosport for the U.S. northern neighbors’ Scion Tuner Challenge.

Everyone who has reviewed the FR-S/Toyota GT86 has so far agreed that, while it handles well, it is underpowered. A turbocharger that ups power to 350-horses, 320 of which allegedly make it to the rear wheels, fixes that issue while a lighter flywheel improves the engine’s willingness to rev.

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Gazoo Preparing Unique Looking Toyota 86 – Scion FR-S Concept with 325HP Twin-Charged Engine

The 2013 edition of the Tokyo Auto Salon is turning out to be quite the event with many surprise debuts being announced as we approach closer to the grand opening that takes place on the weekend before the Detroit motor show in mid-January.

Today we learn that Toyota's motorsports and tuning partner Gazoo Racing will host the world premiere of a unique looking Toyota 86 coupe (Japan's version of the North American Scion FR-S) named the GRMN Sports FR Concept Platinum.

From the few cropped pictures we were able to get our hands on, we can see that the study will feature a unique body with different front and rear ends over the stock 86/FR-S along with some interior upgrades including bucket seats.

If the concept's name rings a bell, that's because under the sheetmetal, it shares its performance upgrades with the GRMN Sports FR Concept revealed at the Goodwood Festival in the UK this summer.

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The Scion FR-S Tunes of the 2012 SEMA Show in Pictures

One model that is more than adequately represented at the 2012 edition of the SEMA show is the new Scion FR-S, which to be frank, was something we anticipated since the Japanese carmaker's sports coupe did not make in time to participate in last year's event in Las Vegas.

Simply put, describe the type of tuning program you are looking for the FR-S, and SEMA has it, from subtle to extreme and everything in between, be that for its looks or mechanical upgrades.

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Scion's SEMA Show-Bound FR-S Tuner Challenge Builds in the Flesh

Earlier this week, we told you about and showed you renderings of the three FR-S project cars that Scion plans to bring to the 2012 SEMA Show, which opens its doors on October and runs through November 2.

Now we have the details as well as real life pictures and even videos of the FR-S Tuner Challenge cars.

The FR-S concepts were created as part of a competition in which Scion gave three custom car builders the opportunity to put their talents to work while imposing a $15,000 budget and a three-month time-frame to complete the transformation.

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Toyota GT 86 aka the Scion FR-S Fails Miserably in Moose Test in Lithuania

We all know how the first generation of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class and more recently, the Jeep Grand Cherokee (though, Chrysler did question the results), faired in the now infamous moose (or elk) test pioneered by Swedish car magazine Teknikens Värld.

While the Swedes emulated the presence of a moose with cones, in Lithuania (or so out tipster told us), a similar test was performed with a more pleasing to the eye replica of the large mammal.

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