Toyota and Suzuki teaming up for safety and planet's sake

Toyota and Suzuki have issued a joint statement announcing that the car-makers are combining forces. The driver is a desire to catch-up to their European and North American rivals which are seen by some as overtaking the Japanese marques in terms of safety and environmental and information technology.

The car-makers announced Toyota would lend its R&D expertise to help Suzuki develop more technologically advanced small vehicles with "high price competitiveness", while Toyota would take advantage of Suzuki's ability to create low-cost, small cars.

It's thought the statement was made to reassure Suzuki investors following the Japanese car-maker's separation from the alliance it had with Volkswagen. That cooperation fell apart following a dispute over shared technology.

The move towards uniting both car-makers' R&D efforts is seen as yet another example of consolidation within the car industry. It follows Nissan's recent announcement that it plans to take a controlling stake in Mitsubishi.

Speaking following the deal, Toyota CEO, Akio Toyoda, said: "We need to have the ability to respond to changes in order to survive.

"In addition to the R&D which each company is working on individually, it is very important now to have partners who share the same goal and passion", said Toyota's global boss.