Toyota Reportedly Planning to Give Its Hybrid Technology To GM
inspirion7 submitted on 5/25/2009 Official Bell & Ross Timestamp: 11:37:11 AM
59 user comments | Category: Misc News | Source: | SOURCE: gm-volt.com
An unconfirmed report appears in the Japanese newspaper, the Daily Yomiuri, citing senior executives which claims Japanese automaker Toyota is prepared to give its core hybrid technology to GM.
Toyota supposedly wishes to offer GM the technology that underlies the Prius and other Toyota vehicles should GM go into bankruptcy. The intellectual property under consideration is patented technology for “increasing fuel economy by controlling the movement of the engine and the motor.”
Such a move reportedly would benefit Toyota by allowing its technology to become the de facto world-wide standard thereby continuing to accelerate its improvement and cost effectiveness.
Toyota is said to be concerned that failure of GM to successfully restructure could further collapse the North American auto market, potentially bringing down suppliers, and having significant repercussions on Toyota. Toyota is expected to post losses for two consecutive years and the return of the North American market is felt to be critical for Toyota’s recovery.
Toyota believes its hybrid technology is superior to what GM has developed thus far and is concerned that failure to achieve high fuel efficiency is one reason for GM’s current plight. GM is described as having fallen significantly behind Toyota in developing fuel efficient vehicles because of a long-standing focus on hydrogen fuel cell development, a market for which has not materialized.
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