In perhaps the most overt example of the ever-changing automotive industry, Toyota and Ford Motor will collaborate to develop hybrid trucks and sport utility vehicles that will be available to the public by the end of the decade.
Two companies announced Aub. 22 they will manufacture rear-wheel drive hybrids as well as telephone, Internet and entertainment systems for the vehicles.
Developing the hybrids will help each automaker meet stringent U.S. fuel economy standards, said Takeshi Uchiyamada, vice president for Toyota research and development, and Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s product development chief.
There are no plans for collaboration beyond rear-wheel drive hybrids and on-board phone, navigation and entertainment systems.
Toyota has been the world leader in hybrids (3.3 million) since it introduced the front-wheel Prius sedan in 1997.
“This is the kind of collaborative effort that is required to address the big global challenges of energy independence and environmental sustainability,” Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally said in a prepared statement.
Toyota President Akio Toyoda, also in a prepared statement, said the tie-up “should also become an important building block for future mobility in the U.S.”
While Toyota has led in hybrid sales, Ford has been a leader in pickup trucks, which are predominately sold in the United States and Canada. Its F-series pickup trucks have been the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. market since the 1970s.
The two companies will work on the details of a fuller agreement expected “sometime in 2012” that will lay out more specifically how they will collaborate, Kuzak said.
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Article Last Updated: August 22, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.
Thanks for the story, James. I found your line regarding mobile internet systems to be particularly intriguing. Again, here's another example of information- and media access expanding to become available anytime, anywhere. Certainly the continued growth of hybrid vehicles is noteworthy, but the enhanced internet / media access is the body of the iceberg, lurking just below the surface.