Toyota and Suzuki will form a capital alliance, the Japanese automakers said on Wednesday, as they look to accelerate technological development and meet sweeping changes upending the global auto industry.

The deal will see Toyota pay about 96 billion yen ($910 million) for a 4.94 percent stake in smaller Suzuki, while Suzuki will acquire around 48 billion yen worth of shares in Toyota.

That is equivalent to 0.2 percent of Toyota's shares as of Wednesday's closing price, before the announcement.

The two automakers said in a joint statement they intended to overcome new challenges facing the industry by "building and deepening cooperative relationships in new fields while continuing to be competitors."

They said they would strengthen technologies and products in which each of them specialize.

"Toyota is getting Suzuki at an attractive valuation," said Janet Lewis, an analyst at Macquarie Capital Securities (Japan) Ltd. "It appears to be very similar to the mutual investments made between Toyota and Mazda."

The tie-up highlights the challenges for automakers as they fight to keep up with the breakneck growth in an industry that has been transformed by the rise of electric vehicles, ride-hailing and autonomous driving.

Toyota and Suzuki said in 2016 they were exploring a partnership, citing technological challenges and the need to keep up with industry consolidation. The pair earlier this year announced a tie-up to produce electric vehicles and compact cars for each other.

Toyota has been looking to expand scale in next-generation technology and said this year it would offer free access to patents for EV motors and power control units. It believes that move would help it cut by as much as half the outlays for expanded electric and hybrid vehicle components in the United States, China and Japan.

Supplying rivals would greatly expand the scale of production for hardware.

Suzuki, which specializes in affordable small cars, had been struggling to keep pace with the huge costs of investing in research and development for automated driving functions.

Suzuki said it will use 20 billion yen of the proceeds on development of new technologies including autonomous driving, and the remainder to replenish its capital.

Suzuki has been seeking to team up with a larger carmaker after an acrimonious split with Volkswagen.

Toyota has budgeted about seven times more on research and development than Suzuki for this fiscal year, and the smaller automaker has pointed to the soaring cost of making competitive cars as a reason to join forces with a partner.

Toyota said in June it aims to get half of its global sales from electrified vehicles by 2025, five years ahead of schedule, and will tap Chinese battery makers to meet the accelerated shift to electric cars.

Toyota ha acquistato il 5% di Suzuki, le 2 case nipponiche collaborano proficuamente su diversi progetti da alcuni anni. Suzuki è molto ben gestita ma non ha la massa critica per sopravvivere quindi ha fatto un buon affare.
L’aspetto che mi interessa è la sistemazione delle case giapponesi minori imposta dal governo. Dopo la crisi degli anni ‘90 solo Toyota e Honda rimasero indipendenti. Nissan fu conquistata da Renault, Mitsubishi da Daimlerchrysler, Mazda da Ford mentre Gm acquisì quote importanti in Isuzu, Subaru e Suzuki.
Per vicissitudini varie le case estere hanno dovuto vendere le loro partecipazioni e le piccole case nipponiche sono ritornate indipendenti eppure rimanevano sottodimensionate. Il governo Abe allora ha spinto Toyota a acquisire quote minoritarie ma con importanti risvolti di scambi tecnologici in Subaru, Isuzu, Suzuki e Mazda. È il nuovo volto del nazionalismo economico, uno dei tanti velenosi ricordi che la scimmia arancione di Washington ci lascerà. La ciliegina sulla torta potrebbe essere la cacciata degli odiati mangiarane da Nissan.

-- Toyota plans to raise its stake in Subaru to more than 20 percent from around 17 percent now, a deal that would also see Subaru invest in Japan's top automaker, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Toyota's investment is likely to cost more than 70 billion yen ($650 million) based on Subaru's stock market value, said the Nikkei business daily, which first reported the news.

Subaru is likely to reciprocate with a stake in Toyota that would roughly equal the value of Toyota's additional investment, one of the people told Reuters.

Subaru is particularly strong in SUV strength and all-wheel-drive technology. The two automakers in June said they planned to jointly develop an electric SUV on a platform produced together, to split costs.

Toyota is by far the larger manufacturer, with 10.6 million cars and trucks produced in 2018. Subaru built 1 million vehicles last year, a decline of 5 percent and the first drop in seven years.

Equity affiliate
Toyota plans to make Subaru an equity affiliate after raising its stake, the Nikkei said, which would make it an asset on its balance sheet and included on income statements.

"The plan appears to be to ultimately make Subaru a fully owned subsidiary, to help create a 'mega Toyota.' This is the first step towards that," said Takeshi Miyao, managing director of Carnorama, a consultancy. "It's all about building scale."

Toyota said the stake increase reports are not based on any announcements from our company. "The Toyota group is considering various options to strengthen its competitiveness. We will publish anything when it is appropriate to do so," said Maki Niimi, a Toyota spokesman.

Subaru issued a similar statement with similar wording.

Toyota also owns stakes in Suzuki Motor and Mazda Motor, of less than 10 percent apiece.

Automakers, especially smaller ones such as Subaru, are struggling to meet the fast pace of change in an industry being transformed by the rise of electric vehicles, ride hailing and autonomous driving. They have been joining forces to slash development and manufacturing costs of new technology.

Ford and Volkswagen have said they will spend billions of dollars to jointly develop electric and self-driving vehicles.

Toyota seems to be particularly keen to build scale now by investing in smaller, domestic automakers, rather than forging cross-border tie-ups like some of its rivals.

It has been building its holding in Subaru since first acquiring a 9.5 percent stake in the smaller automaker, then called Fuji Heavy Industries, in 2005.

Toyota has been looking to expand scale in next-generation technology and said this year it would offer free access to patents for electric vehicle motors and power control units.

Toyota sta per salire al 20% di Subaru, ormai il colosso giapponese sta creando una serie di satelliti (Mazda, Suzuki, Subaru e Isuzu) con cui cooperare. È lampante l’imputa da parte del governo di impedire che le piccole case giapponesi finiscano in mano agli stranieri come avvenne negli anni 90. Alla faccia dell’ antitrust.

Il gigante noioso salva costruttori più piccoli e simpatici. Fantastico!

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Fiat Panda Hobby - 39 cavalli, sì, ma non per tonnellata

Toyota will not abandon Europe's minicar segment unlike rivals such as Ford and Opel but the next version of the Aygo could be electric.

The current Aygo, which was launched in 2014, will get a successor, Toyota Europe CEO Johan Van Zyl said.

"The Aygo has been a very good product for us in terms of conquest and bringing younger people into our brand. We still see it as a good segment for us to be in," Van Zyl told Automotive News Europe in an interview.

The Aygo is currently Toyota's only car sold in Europe without a hybrid option. Van Zyl said a replacement Aygo might be electric given the car's urban usage.

"Some cities are applying zero-emissions zones, so we must think about the future and say, 'how are we going to ensure that we have an electrified version of an A (minicar) - or sub A-segment car that we'll be able to utilize for these cities?'" he said.

Toyota's development partners for the current Aygo, Peugeot and Citroen, have indicated that any replacement for their minicars will need to be electric.

The Aygo is built alongside the Peugeot 108 and Citroen C1 in a joint plant with PSA Group in Kolin in the Czech Republic.


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Toyota sold 83,030 Aygos in Europe in the first 10 months, up 3.7 percent, according to JATO Dynamics market researchers. Peugeot sold 48,542 units of the 108, down 1.4 percent and Citroen sold 44,399 units of the C1, down 1.9 percent.

Toyota has agreed to buy PSA's share of the joint venture in 2021. This means Toyota has to fill a plant with annual capacity of 300,000 vehicles.

Van Zyl said the company will be able to keep the plant busy. "We will utilize the full capacity in future," he said, without disclosing which cars Toyota intends to build there.

Toyota remains one of the few automakers, along with Hyundai and Kia, to commit to Europe's smallest segment.

Automakers are increasingly abandoning the segment due to the cost of updating the low-profit minicars to meet tougher European Union regulations to reduce CO2 and NOx emissions.

Most recently, Ford and Opel exited the segment. Volkswagen Group's VW Up, Skoda Citigo and Seat Mii minicars are expected to be replaced by battery-powered cars based on a shortened version of the automaker's Modular Electric Drive Toolkit (MEB) architecture.

Replacing the Aygo with a new gasoline version could be unviable in such the price-sensitive minciar segment. The cost of cleaning up NOx emissions on a gasoline engine car to pass Euro6d Temp standards due in September next year is around 2000 euros a car, Ford has estimated.

Toyota has said it will launch three battery electric vehicles by 2021 in Europe, including an EV version of the Lexus UX compact SUV. The other two are expected ot be an electric version of the C-HR compact SUV and a PSA-sourced van.

Toyota will be able to carry on selling gasoline Aygos without penalties after tough new CO2 regulations start in January because its hybrid models account for over half its sales across the automaker's European product range, helping to reduce the company's average CO2 emissions.


Toyota sta pensando di dare un erede alla Aygo che però sarà esclusivamente elettrica. Mi domando come riusciranno a produrre un’ auto elettrica con un range decente e ad un prezzo da citycar. Vedremo.

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new- ... ilt-europe

Toyota ha confermato che darà un erede alla Aygo, sarà quasi senza concorrenti.

Sarà sempre franconipponica o solo toy?

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-- LE IENE PORTANO BENE --
- Renault New Laguna Sportour 4Control 2.0 dCi 150cv - 06/2010 -
- Suzuki GSR 600 K6 - 04/2006 -
- Ford Transit VII T350L 2.2 Tdci 140 cv - 06/2008
- [New entry] Lancia Delta Oro 1.4 T-Jet GPL 120 cv - 09/2008

Solo toyota... penso sia una buona idea rifarla

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ALFA ROMEO GIULIETTA jtdm-2 20 170cv- distinctive-pack premium-pack sport 18 - Luglio 2010 -superati i 333.333 KM!!!

Solo Toyota, la Jv con PSA è stata sciolta e i giapponesi si sono comprati la fabbrica di Kolin nella Repubblica Ceca.

Toyota has confirmed that its new minicar will be a crossover called the Aygo X. The car will be on a different platform than the current Aygo.

The Aygo X (the “X” is prounounced “cross,” Toyota Europe says) will be built at Toyota’s factory in Kolin, Czech Republic. The plant had been a joint venture between Toyota and PSA Group, and most recently built the Aygo, the Citroen C1 and the Peugeot 108 minicars.

Toyota assumed control of the factory on Jan. 1 and retooled it to build the Yaris small car and now the Aygo X on the GA-B platform. The PSA variants are being discontinued.

The Aygo X was shown in concept form as the Aygo X Prologue in March, but its official name was not revealed.

The concept is 3700 mm (146 inches) long, just 5 mm longer than the current Aygo hatchback, but it has greater ground clearance and SUV design cues such as skid plates, roof bars and black wheel-well trim. Toyota described the crossover as "unique" to the minicar segment.

It was designed at the ED2 studio in Sophia Antipolis, near Nice, France. Toyota said the Aygo X is the “first model change planned, developed, designed and produced in Europe at Toyota Motor Europe’s development center.”

In a news release on Tuesday, Toyota did not give details about the Aygo X’s powertrain or launch date, although the production version will be shown in the beginning of November.

Previously the automaker said there would be an internal combustion version to keep the car affordable in the price-sensitive minicar segment.

A hybrid version is also possible, as the Aygo is on the same platform as the Yaris and Yaris Cross, both of which have full-hybrid variants.

Expanded crossover/SUV lineup
Toyota has doubled its volume crossover/SUV offerings in Europe in the past year with the Aygo X and the small Yaris Cross, which join the compact CH-R crossover coupe and the RAV4 SUV in the brand’s lineup. It also sells the body-on-frame Land Cruiser.

Matthew Harrison, the CEO of Toyota Motor Europe, said in a recent interview with Automotive News Europe that the Aygo X and Yaris Cross, as new models, were key to Toyota’s growth plans.

The automaker has revised its 2021 sales target for the Europe region (which includes Russia, Turkey, Israel and Eurasia) to 1.2 million from 1.1 million earlier in the year, and for 2025 is now expecting 1.5 million sales, up from 1.4 million.

Most of that growth will come from the Yaris Cross, but Toyota is hoping that the Aygo X, with its crossover styling and now fewer competitors in the segment, will also gain sales as well as market share.

The minicar segment has shrunk in recent years, with Citroen and Peugeot exiting the market. It has been dominated by the Fiat Panda and Fiat 500, which finished first and second in the segment in 2020 with 144,348 and 137,265 sales, respectively, according to figures from JATO Dynamics.

The Aygo was in third place with a volume of 83,277. It was followed by the the Renault Twingo, Volkswagen Up, and Hyundai i10 and Kia Picanto.

One possible direct competitor to the Aygo X is the Suzuki Ignis, which has a high stance and is available with four-wheel drive.

L’erede della Aygo sarà presentata a novembre, il pianale sarà quello della Yaris quindi sarà più grande dell’attuale.
Sarà una pseudo crossover.

- Toyota plans to launch five additional full-electric cars in Europe under the bZ subbrand by 2026, joining the bZ4X midsize SUV.

The first will be a small car arriving next year, Toyota Motor Europe head Matt Harrison told Automotive News Europe last week at Toyota’s Kenshiki forum in Brussels. The car will be an SUV, a separate source within the company said.


Toyota launched the bZ4X this year after focusing on building out a range of full-hybrid models to meet its EU emissions targets. It also sells full-electric vans built by Stellantis but branded as Toyotas.

The confirmation that Toyota will expand its full-electric passenger-car lineup “indicates our clear commitment to battery-electric vehicles,” Harrison said. The coming bZ lineup includes small and compact SUV/crossovers, and three larger models. The bZ models will be sold internationally.

At the Brussels event, Toyota displayed the bZ compact electric SUV concept first revealed at the Los Angeles auto show in November.


The concept previews a car in the compact SUV segment expected in 2025, a person with knowledge of Toyota’s product plan said.

The bZ concept is 4538 mm long, putting it at the upper end of the compact segment. A production version will most likely be sold as the bZ3X.

PHOTO GALLERY: Toyota bZ compact SUV concept


50% EV sales by 2030
Toyota is aiming for 50 percent of its sales in its Europe region – which includes Turkey, Israel, Russia (the future of Toyota’s Russian operations is unclear) and several Eurasian countries -- to come from full-electric vehicles by 2030, ahead of the EU’s mandate that only zero-emission cars can be sold after 2035.

By 2025, Toyota estimates that 10 percent of its European region sales will be full-electric, with 80 percent coming from hybrid and plug-in hybrid models. This year, 66 percent of its sales will be hybrid, Toyota predicted.

Toyota currently sells just one plug-in model in Europe, the RAV4 midsize SUV, although it is adding two more: the Prius compact hatchback (to be sold only as a plug-in in Europe) and, next year, the next-generation C-HR compact SUV, which will also have a full-hybrid option.

The only clue Toyota gave to the identity of the remaining four bZ vehicles due by 2026 was to show an unlabeled chart indicating their rough sizing and launch timing.

After the small SUV comes a larger vehicle sitting above the midsize bZ4X, possibly a production version of the biggest SUV that Toyota showed in a line-up of 15 full-electric concepts in December 2021 previewing future models.

A third model set for Europe was shown in the chart as being roughly the same length as the bZ4X and could be the electric sedan shown in the December concept line-up.

The fourth model shown on the chart is the largest one as indicated in the size axis and could be a pickup shown at the December event.

The fifth sits below the bZ4X and is therefore likely to be the production version of the bZ compact SUV concept.

None of the five are expected to be built in Europe.


Toyota showed concept versions of future electric models in December 2021.

'Hammerhead' styling
The bZ compact SUV concept updates a less-polished version shown in December and continues Toyota’s design theme based around the “hammerhead” front-end look.

The hammerhead look is defined by a light signature that doubles back on itself at the edges, and also appears on the newly revealed Prius plug-in hybrid and the CH-R compact SUV concept.

Inside the bZ concept, seats are covered in materials made from plant-based materials and recycled plastics. Twin screens, one in front of the driver, curve at the bottom for better visibility but are unlikely to be on the production version, Toyota said.

The infotainment system employs a personal avatar named Yui to connect the driver and passengers with the vehicle. It also features audio and visual lighting cues that move around the cabin to respond to commands from front- or rear-seat passengers, the automaker said.

The concept is built on the same e-TNGA platform that underpins the bZ4X SUV.

Toyota prevede di lanciare 5 nuovi veicoli elettrici in Europa entro il 2026. Nel 2023 arriverà un suv più piccolo della BZ4X.

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/ ... era-toyota

Dopo 14 anni Akio Toyoda ha lasciato l’incarico di ceo del gruppo. Il bilancio è ampliamento positivo, pochi anni dall’ascesa scoppiò lo scandalo di alcuni milioni di veicoli che acceleravano improvvisamente, fu un fortissimo danno di immagine per la casa giapponese, eppure dopo pochi anni non se ne sentì più parlare. Toyota magari non suscita più il terrore di fine anno ‘90 e inizio 2000 quando sembrava poter conquistare il mondo eppure da 2 anni è il primo costruttori al mondo, il secondo negli States, si è molto rinforzata in Europa, Cina ed America Latina.
Toyoda è stato molto criticato per l’atteggiamento cauto verso l’elettrico, gli analisti glielo rinfacciano molto spesso, io credo che abbia ragione. Comunque Toyota è pronta anche alla rivoluzione elettrica e ha i mezzi per sviluppare hardware e software.

TOKYO — Toyota Motor Corp. a aims to have about 15 electric vehicle models developed on its own by 2027 and is targeting production of about 1 million cars a year by then, the Nikkei newspaper said.

Toyota declined to comment, saying the information was not announced by the company.

Toyota has five EV models developed in-house, manufacturing them only in Japan and China, the Nikkei said. Expanding production to the United States, Thailand and Argentina can help hedge against tariff and foreign exchange risks and cut delivery times, it added.

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The 15 EV models include some under its Lexus luxury brand, the business daily said.

Toyota now expects to produce about 800,000 units in 2026, effectively down nearly 50 percent from its original plan, Nikkei added.

Toyota has previously said it intended to sell 1.5 million EVs per year by 2026 and 3.5 million by 2030, calling the numbers benchmarks for shareholders rather than targets.

Sign up for the Automotive News Europe Breaking News alerts and be the first to know when big news happens.

In 2024, it sold almost 140,000 EVs globally, up by about a third from a year earlier. They accounted for less than 2 percent of its total global sales of over 10 million.

Nell’ambiente automotive è nota la prudenza del gruppo Toyota nei confronti dei veicoli elettrici. L’ex ceo mi aveva presentati alcuni ma già nel 2024 il piano di espansione dell’offerta di veicoli BEV era stato fortemente ridotto.
Nell’ambito della presentazione dei nuovi modelli a spina il management ha fornito dettagli del nuovo piano di espansione, entro il 2027 si dovrebbe arrivare a 1 milione di veicoli prodotti.
L’aspetto interessante è che ne produrranno due negli Stati Uniti, mercato dove Toyota ha puntato molto sul libro con ottimi successi.
Diversi concorrenti, come Honda Nissan e Volkswagen stanno copiando la strategia di Toyota negli Stati Uniti.
Naturalmente bisogna vedere cosa succederà con le tariffe, sembra che il governo giapponese si stia piegando alle intemperanze di Trump.

Il Giappone da un lato ha preso il posto della Cina nel possedere grossa parte del debito americano, dall'altra parte Nissan ha delle ottime performance di vendita negli States.
Vai a capire chi prevale su chi.

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Seat Leon 1.4 E-Hybrid Phev 204 cv

, Nissan è in una posizione difficilissima dato che ha grossi impianti nel Messico, in realtà servono anche per servire il mercato locale. Il Giappone è de facto il primo stato che ha sfruttato l'apertura del mercato americano, le idee di Trump sull'isolazionismo economico risalgono agli anni '80, basta sostituire la parola Giappone con Cina ed il gioco è fatto.
L'Europa ha una quota molto significativa del debito americano e non è un caso che quei pazzi degli economisti al servizio dell'orango arancione spingono ad una politica di ricatti nei confronti degli alleati.
Vogliono continuare ad indebitarsi (bisognerebbe far notare la schizofrenia di sostenere che i dazi servano per aumentare gli introiti statali e poi concedere un maxi taglio di tasse alle aziende creando dei crateri nel bilancio) e far pagare il conto alle colonie.
Ogni tanto viene scritto che gli USA sono diventati il primo stato canaglia al mondo.