Toyota creates alliances for the next decade “to take up challenges together in this transitional era.”
The recently proposed merger between Renault and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) did not come to fruition, but there is no way to stop ongoing consolidation in the automotive industry.
This week Toyota and Suzuki jointly announced capital alliance agreement and a long-term partnership, which was just a matter of time as the two Japanese manufacturers were already partnering in few projects.
The intention is to combine strengths like Toyota’s electrification technologies and Suzuki’s technologies for compact vehicles, as well as jointly work on new areas like autonomous driving. It’s also obvious that for small manufacturers like Suzuki it would be difficult to stay in business without orbiting around a bigger partner.
In case of BEVs, Toyota announced in June that together with Suzuki and Daihatsu (Toyota’s subsidiary) will develop a compact electric car.
It will be one of six global BEVs:
Toyota plans to acquire 24,000,000 shares of common stock in Suzuki (close to 5% of ownership) for JPY 96 billion, while Suzuki to purchase shares in Toyota equivalent to JPY 48 billion.
Besides the deals to develop plug-ins with Subaru, Suzuki and BYD, Toyota secures also battery partnerships with Panasonic, CATL and BYD.
Source: Read Full Article