Toyota and Suzuki create new alliance
New partnership will see Japanese car-makers remain rivals but share the cost of new techToyota and Suzuki have announced they will take a financial stake in each other as part of plans to share the cost of developing new technologies.
As part of the deal, Toyota says it will invest 96 billion Yen ($A1.34b) in Suzuki, which equates to around a 4.94 per cent stake. In return, Suzuki confirmed it will snap up around 48 billion Yen worth of Toyota stock, around a 0.2 per cent share in the larger company.
Following with the investment, both Japanese car-makers confirmed that the new alliance has been created to overcome new challenges facing the industry by "building and deepening cooperative relationships in new fields while continuing to be competitors".
A joint statement also declared that the deal would see it strengthen technologies and products in which each specialise.
Mirroring a similar arrangement between Toyota and Mazda, the latest alliance will help the Japanese car-makers meet the demands of developing pure-electric and autonomous vehicles as well as challenging vehicle ownership models with car sharing and ride-hailing apps.
Earlier this year, Suzuki and Toyota announced that they would work together to develop EVs and small cars together, in an arrangement seen as hugely beneficial to Suzuki, a small small-car company that is struggling to keep pace with the investment required for the R&D of new tech like autonomous driving aids.
The agreement will see Toyota produce a Suzuki-badged RAV4 and Corolla wagon for the European market.
The two will also work together to create a hybrid and small SUV for the Indian market and allow Toyota to rebadge the Suzuki Ciaz and Ertiga models in the Indian market and a further four cars for the African markets.
As part of Toyota's investment, Suzuki says it has now earmarked 20 billion yen ($A280m) for driverless tech, as part of dramatic plans to ramp up its spending on future products and technologies to seven times what it spends today.
Toyota, meanwhile, said that in June half of all its vehicles sold had an electrified powertrain – a target the car-maker originally set for itself to meet by 2025.
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