Toyota ends partnership with Tesla
Japanese carmaker's 'conservative' approach reportedly clashed with Elon Musk's 'risk-taking' strategy
Toyota has sold "the last of its stake"in Tesla, ending its partnership with the firm, reports the Financial Times.
The car giant "bought roughly 3 per cent of Tesla for $50m (£39m) in 2010" in a deal that "included the sale of its assembly plant in Fremont, California, to Elon Musk's electric car start-up", says the paper.
The partnership was designed to "inject some of Tesla's start-up management culture into the Japanese carmaker", but the company’s "risk-taking" approach clashed with Toyota's "conservative" strategy.
Toyota's "electric sport utility vehicle" RAV4 EV, which ceased production in 2014, is the last car to be co-developed with Tesla.
According to Fortune, Toyota is establishing its own electric vehicle division to take-on Tesla.
However, its management may not be "truly committed to developing fully electric vehicles" as the company has "poured sustained effort into the development of hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles".
AutoExpress says Toyota's most recent hydrogen-powered car, the Mirai, is priced at £66,000 - which is around £5,000 more expensive than Tesla's entry-level Model S electric saloon.
Musk also plans to introduce his cheaper, mass-market Model 3 battery-powered saloon later this year, which will boast a battery range of 215 miles and is expected to cost £35,000, making it one of the cheapest electric saloons on the market.
