Tesla Motors, Toyota to cooperate on development of electric vehicles
(May 21, 2010) Tesla Motors, Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation today announced that they intend to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support.
The electric vehicles produced by the joint effort will be built at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. in Fremont, Calif., a plant that Toyota last year ruled too inefficient to keep open. The plant was closed down after General Motors terminated a long-running joint venture with Toyota.
Tesla will acquire the NUMMI property and employ 1,000 people.
Under the partners' scenarios, Tesla will gain from Toyota's scale, engineering resources and access to its supplier base. Toyota, in turn, will have Tesla's lean and rapid product development, as well as its electric vehicle technology. Toyota is still using older-tech nickel-metal-hydride batteries in its Prius and other hybrids, while Tesla is using newer, lithium-ion batteries.
“I sensed the great potential of Tesla’s technology and was impressed by its dedication to monozukuri (Toyota’s approach to manufacturing),” said TMC President Akio Toyoda. “Through this partnership, by working together with a venture business such as Tesla, Toyota would like to learn from the challenging spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility that Tesla has. Decades ago, Toyota was also born as a venture business. By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit,’ and take on the challenges of the future.”
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