Toyota, Mazda teaming up on electric-vehicle technology

TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp is establishing a new venture to develop electric vehicle technology with partner Mazda Motor Corp, seeking to catch up with rivals in an increasingly frenetic race to produce more battery-powered cars.

Policymakers in key markets like China are aggressively pushing a shift to electric cars over the next two to three decades, pressuring traditional carmakers to crank up their electric vehicle (EV) plans — just as declining battery costs enable more power to be packed into cars.

Toyota said the new company would develop technology for a range of EVs, including mini vehicles, passenger cars, and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Toyota will take a 90 per cent stake in the joint venture, called EV Common Architecture Spirit Co Ltd, while Mazda and Denso Corp, Toyota’s biggest supplier, will each take a five per cent stake.

The plans build on a partnership announced last month when Japan’s biggest carmaker agreed to take a five per cent stake in Mazda and two said they would jointly develop affordable electric vehicle technologies.

After years of focusing on bringing hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to the market, Toyota last year set up a division to develop electric cars which is led by president Akio Toyoda, and said it plans to introduce EVs in China in the coming years.

Neither Toyota nor Mazda market fully electric passenger cars at the moment.

Toyota has cited affordability and the limited range of batteryoperated cars as obstacles to the mass popularisation so far.

Mazda has an research and development budget a fraction of Toyota’s, which has made it difficult to develop electric cars on its own. Reuters