Toyota Motor Company and BYD Company Ltd. will research and develop battery electric vehicles (BEVs) under a jointly operated venture announced last week.
The new company will likely be founded in China next year, with each of its founders sharing 50 percent of the total capital required for its operation. It will be staffed by existing engineers at each company who will be transferred over as necessary, along with employees already working on R&D. At the new facility, these employees will be focused on the design and development of these BEVs along with their platform and related parts.
“We aim to combine BYD’s strengths in development and competitiveness in the battery electric vehicle market with Toyota’s quality and safety technology to provide the best BEV products for the market demand and consume affection as early as we can,” Lian Yu-Bo, senior vice president at BYD, said.
BYD was the first company in the world to sell mass production of plug-in hybrid electrified vehicles (PHEVs), back in 2008, though Toyota made the world’s first mass-produced hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) in 1997 — the Prius. The two companies now hope to develop BEVs that will entice Chinese customers and promote wider adoption, alongside a long term goal to further environmental improvement.
“With the same goal to further promote the widespread use of electrified vehicles, we appreciate that BYD and Toyota can become “teammates,” able to put aside our rivalry and collaborate,” Shigeki Terashi, Toyota executive vice president, said. “We hope to further advance and expand both BYD and Toyota from the efforts of the new company with BYD.”