Toyota and Tesla Motors join to build electric vehicles
Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Tesla Motors, Inc have partnered for the joint development of electric vehicles, production, parts and engineering. A team of specialists will be appointed from both groups to develop those efforts. Toyota will purchase $50 million in Tesla’s common stock which was offered in a private placement to close immediately after the closing of Tesla’s initial public offering.
“I sensed the great potential of Tesla’s technology and was impressed by its dedication to monozukuri (Toyota’s approach to manufacturing),” stated TMC President Akio Toyoda. “Through this partnership, by working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility that Tesla has. Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit,’ and take on the challenges of the future.”
“Toyota is a company founded on innovation, quality, and commitment to sustainable mobility. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Toyota would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla,” stated Tesla CEO and cofounder Elon Musk. “We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota’s legendary engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise.”Tesla has been making cars since 1937; and Toyota introduced its first generation Prius hybrid in 1997. Since then, around 2.5 million hybrids have been produced by Toyota, and last year the Company came out with the Prius Plug-in Hybrid. Electric vehicles are to be introduced from Toyota by 2012.
SOURCE: http://www.toyota.com/