Toyota, Mazda announce tech partnership
TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. and Japanese rival Mazda are expanding their partnership to a long-term one focusing on technologies in the areas of safety and fuel efficiency.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Mazda Motor Corp. President Masamichi Kogai shook hands at a Tokyo hotel, both smiling and decked out in dark suits and red ties.
Toyoda expressed interest in Hiroshima-based Mazda's fuel-efficient technology for gasoline engines and diesel vehicles called Skyactive.
But neither immediately went into specifics, such as whether Toyota would license Mazda to use its new green technology, such as fuel cells, which runs on the energy created when hydrogen combines with oxygen in the air to form water.
Toyota already provides hybrid technology to Mazda. Mazda also makes compact cars for Toyota at its Mexico plant.