Toyota expects the majority of future Verso sales in Europe will be versions equipped with a BMW-sourced diesel engine.The Japanese automaker, which is the world’s No. 1 seller of gasoline-electric hybrids, is strengthening its diesel offerings in the region where about half of new vehicles sold are diesels.

The Verso compact minivan sold in Europe will now be offered with a BMW-sourced 1.6-liter diesel engine.

“The new 1.6 D-4D will be by far the most popular engine in our Verso line-up,” said Fabio Capano, Toyota Europe’s product communications director. “We plan to sell more than 25,000 a year.”

This year, Toyota expects to sell 44,000 Versos in its European markets, which include Russia and Turkey, up from 39,320 in 2013.

Capano declined to comment on reports that Toyota will also use the BMW diesel in its Auris compact hatchback and RAV4 compact SUV.

Up to now Toyota has offered 2.0-liter and a 2.2-liter diesel variants in the Verso.

Capano said Europe’s compact minivan segment is dominated by small diesels, with 1.6 variants the best sellers in the segment. Toyota considers the main rivals for the Verso’s 1.6-liter diesel variant are the diesel 1.6 Citroen C4 Picasso, 1.5 Renault Scenic, 1.6 Volkswagen Touran and 1.6 Ford C-Max.

Toyota builds the Verso at its Sakarya plant in Turkey, while the 1.6-liter diesel engine comes from the BMW’s Steyr plant in Austria.

Capano says the BMW engines will only be fitted in Versos sold in Europe.

Engine tweaks

BMW offers the 1.6-liter engine in its 1 series compact hatchback and the outgoing Mini CooperD. Toyota made some changes to the engine for the Verso.

“Several key components, such as engine mounts, intake, cooling and fuel systems, had to be re-developed to ensure the mechanical marriage between the engine and the vehicle,” Mehmet Kilic, Toyota’s project manager responsible for the Toyota/BMW engine integration project, said at a press event at the automaker’s European design center near Nice, France.

One of the main developments was the engine control unit, Kilic said noting that Toyota also had to re-develop the Verso’s existing six-speed manual gearbox, drive shaft and dual-mass flywheel.

Toyota says the diesel engine supply agreement with BMW is the first step in medium to long term collaboration between the two companies on next-generation environmentally-friendly technologies. The companies have said they also plan to work together on development of a fuel-cell system, joint research into lithium-air batteries, the creation of lightweight vehicle body technologies and possibly the joint development of a sports car platform.

Toyota has said the agreement does not include any supply of BMW engines to the Lexus premium brand.