Toyota and Tesla Announce Partnership
By Chris Weiss
As expected, Toyota and Tesla announced a partnership yesterday that will be focused on developing future electric vehicle-building infrastructure and vehicles. Here’s the scant details we were able to glean from the back-patting quote-a-thon that was the story.
Toyota will invest $50 million in Toyota. Tesla has acquired Toyota’s recently closed NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA, and will open up production on its Model S sedan at the plant in 2012. The move could create as many as 1,000 jobs in the San Francisco area.
That’s about it for details, most every other piece I’ve read was just quotes from every business and government leader that had the least bit to gain from the deal. So here’s some of that:
“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.
Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said: “Toyota is a company founded on innovation, quality, and commitment to sustainable mobility. It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Toyota would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla. We look forward to learning and benefiting from Toyota’s legendary engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise.”
Yep, a lot of ass-kissery, but a potentially exciting deal nonetheless. [via SF Gate and egmCarTech]
