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View all search resultsSuzuki, Daihatsu join Toyota to develop EV minicars
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inicar makers Suzuki Motor Corp. and Daihatsu Motor Co. said on Wednesday that they would join an initiative led by Toyota Motor Corp. to accelerate electrification and carbon neutrality in commercial vehicles.
Suzuki and Daihatsu will each acquire a 10 percent stake in Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corp., a joint company funded by Toyota and smaller truck manufacturers Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Hino Motors Ltd, Kyodo reported.
The participation of Suzuki and Daihatsu expands the initiative targeting vehicles for commercial use to a fuller lineup from trucks to minicars.
It is designed to promote more connected, autonomous, shared and electrified, or CASE, vehicles. Toyota, Suzuki and Daihatsu will aim to cooperate in building infrastructure for connected cars and using electrification technologies, among other areas.
“Minicars serve as Japan’s practical and sustainable lifelines. Now CASE and carbon neutrality are calling for a major change,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said during an online press briefing.
Around 85 percent of roads in Japan are narrow and can only be used smoothly by minicars, Toyoda added. Minivehicles with engines of up to 660 cc are popular in Japan, accounting for about 40 percent of total cars sold.
Toyota has been seeking to expand cooperation with Suzuki in such fields as electrification by owning a 4.9 percent stake in the minicar maker based in Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan. Daihatsu is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota.
