It’s official. BYD and Toyota become “teammates” and will jointly develop BEVs for the Chinese market.
In 2020 Toyota and BYD will establish a joint company (50%/50%) for research and development for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).
The agreement was announced today, after the two manufacturers hinted at such a deal in July 2019.
According to scarce details, Toyota and BYD will work on not only particular cars, but also platform/parts with a focus on the Chinese market.
“BYD Company Ltd. (BYD) and Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announced today that they have signed an agreement to establish a joint company to research and development for battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The new R&D company, which will work on designing and developing BEVs (including platform) and its related parts, is anticipated to be established in China in 2020, with BYD and Toyota to evenly share 50% of the total capital needed. Additionally, BYD and Toyota plan to staff the new company by transferring engineers and the jobs currently involved in related R&D from their respective companies.”
“With the newly established joint R&D company, Toyota and BYD aim to work together to further develop BEVs that are attractive to Chinese customers, and by further promoting their widespread adoption, aim to contribute toward environmental improvement.”
A few months ago the two said that the main areas of interest are:
- Agreement to jointly develop battery electric vehicles (BEVs); discussions include
- Joint development of sedans and low-floor SUV BEVs
- Aim to launch the BEVs in China in the first half of the 2020s
- BYD and Toyota will also develop onboard batteries for the jointly developed BEVs and other vehicles
…which means that we might see the first fruit of the partnership sooner rather than later.
On the establishment of the new company, BYD senior vice president Lian Yu-bo said:
“We aim to combine BYD’s strengths in development and competitiveness in the battery electric vehicle market with Toyota’s quality and safety technology to provide the best BEV products for the market demand and consumer affection as early as we can.”
Toyota executive vice president Shigeki Terashi commented:
“With the same goal to further promote the widespread use of electrified vehicles, we appreciate that BYD and Toyota can become “teammates”, able to put aside our rivalry and collaborate. We hope to further advance and expand both BYD and Toyota from the efforts of the new company with BYD.”
Source: Read Full Article