The partnership between Toyota and BMW has been reported ad nauseam in the past few months but both companies have remained tight lipped on what kind of collaboration its going to be.

But that's not the case anymore after a high-ranking BMW exec essentially confirmed and described the collaboration between the two brands. Speaking to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, BMW->ke178 development chief Dr. Herbert Diess essentially laid out all the cards on the table, detailing what a lot of us have suspected for a while now before throwing out a caveat that gave us a clearer picture of what we can expect with this partnership.

"We have agreed on a joint architecture for a sports car," Diess said, before adding that "there will be two different vehicles that are authentic to the two brands."

So...the Toyota->ke88-BMW technological dance will give way to at least two models, one carrying a Toyota badge and one carrying a BMW badge. That's cool and all, but with that piece of information all but confirmed, the onus now turns on exactly what kind of models these vehicles are going to be under their respective brands.

Could it be that we're in store for a successor to the Lexus LF-A->ke2181 or the long-awaited return of the Supra? On the flip side, maybe a new BMW sports car that will be a class above the Z4->ke289, or something along the lines of the new i8?

A lot of potential models are in play and its exciting that we're going into 2014 with all this speculation on what kind of offspring the Toyota and BMW marriage is going to have.

Note: Photo is of the 2015 BMW i8

Click past the jump to read about a car that could be a nice representation of what Toyota and BMW are building towards, the 2015 BMW i8

2015 BMW i8

The production-version BMW i8 was unveiled at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show — after a bunch of concept cars were unveiled the years before — starting with the Vision Efficient Dynamics Concept unveiled at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.

The i8 is powered by a hybrid system that combines a 1.5-liter, three-cylinder engine with an output of 231 horsepower and 236 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels with an electric motor driving the front wheels and that adds another 131 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque.

Combined, the entire driveline produces 362 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque and sprint the i8 from 0 to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and up to a top speed of 155 mph.