A new report finds Toyota is in the early stages of developing a compact sports car that will share its rear-wheel drive platform with the BMW 1-Series currently sold across Europe. Called 69DZ internally, the model is not expected to land in showrooms until 2017 at the very earliest, unnamed sources have told 4WheelsNews.

Toyota's upcoming sports car will slot under the GT86 coupe (sold as the Scion FR-S on our shores). It will retain the 1-Series' overall silhouette but it will boast model-specific front and rear fascias that will fall in line with Toyota's latest design language.

In Europe, the 1-Series is offered as both a two-door (pictured) and a four-door hatchback. Toyota's version of the car will only be sold as a two-door in order to put an emphasis on sportiness.

Power will come from a Toyota-sourced 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine tuned with input from Yamaha to generate 130 horsepower at 6,500 rpms and 110 lb-ft. of torque at 4,500 rpms. Power will be sent to the rear wheels via either a standard six-speed manual transmission or an optional six-speed automatic unit.

The car will reportedly tip the scale at less than 2,200 pounds, allowing it to return over 71 mpg in a mixed Japanese cycle. How BMW plans on shaving at least 800 pounds from the 1-Series is not known.

If the rumor proves true, Toyota's upcoming compact sports car will be previewed by a thinly-veiled concept that will debut at next year's edition of the Tokyo Motor Show. The production variant will be introduced two years later and go on sale shortly after. In the United States, the car will likely ditch the Toyota name and adopt the Scion moniker.