Toyota to allow free access to its hybrid vehicle technology
(emerging-europe.com)
NAGOYA, Apr 3, 2019, Kyodo. Toyota Motor Corp. plans to allow royalty-free access to its technology for hybrid and other electric vehicles to expand competition in the market as the industry adopts stricter emissions regulations, company sources said Wednesday, reported the Kyodo News.
Rather than shutting rivals out, Toyota hopes that making its technology, covering motors and batteries, accessible to other companies will enlarge the market, in particular for hybrids, a field the Japanese auto giant leads with its Prius vehicles, the sources said.
Executive Vice President Shigeki Terashi will announce the policy shift at a press conference in Nagoya, a central Japan city near Toyota’s headquarters, later Wednesday.
Chinese manufacturers are seen as likely to be interested in the gasoline-electric hybrid technology as the world’s largest auto market also moves to implement stricter fuel economy regulations.
Toyota also hopes that opening up its technology for motors and batteries, which are key components of electric and fuel-cell vehicles, will increase their supply and help cut costs in developing such vehicles, the sources said.
Since the release of the Prius in 1997, Toyota has kept its related technology under wraps. But it has now judged that it can retain a competitive edge even if it offers its technology to other automakers, the sources said.
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