PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

Sun May 15, 4:22 AM ET

TOKYO - The heads of
Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. have agreed to strengthen their partnership in development of technologies for environmentally friendly vehicles, major Japanese newspapers reported Sunday.

Toyota President Fujio Cho and visiting GM Chief Executive Richard Wagoner agreed in a meeting Saturday to step up cooperation in areas such as fuel cell-powered vehicles, the national newspaper Yomiuri said.

Leading business newspaper Nihon Keizai quoted Cho as saying that the two sides did not make any concrete agreements, but "we plan to strengthen our partnership with GM" in fuel cell technology.

A partnership would allow the world's two biggest automakers to share the cost of developing fuel cell-powered cars — pollution-free vehicles that are powered by hydrogen.

Many in the industry believe fuel cells will eventually replace gasoline as the primary power source for cars.

Wagoner, who arrived in Japan on Friday, also met with Toyota Honorary Chairman Shoichiro Toyoda on Saturday to discuss a fuel cell technology tie-up, Kyodo News said.

Calls to Toyota and GM on Sunday were not answered.

Saddled with huge health care and pension liabilities, GM lost US$1.1 billion in the first quarter. Its bonds were recently downgraded to junk status and its stock hit a 10-year low in April.

Toyota reported US$2.8 billion in profit in the same quarter and commands an edge in the market for environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles, which run on a combination of electricity and gasoline.

Toyota and GM already have a partnership but it does not involve investment stakes in each other. They run an auto plant in California together and have exchanged research, including a 1999 pact to jointly develop environmental technology.

mmarshall

This would be unacceptable on a weekday. On a Sunday, well, maybe........

If this happened on a weekday, the companies would have to discipline the employees involved...even if they were high-level managers.

Iceman

The conspiracy theorist in me wants to read more into this. I can picture the back-room plotting going on in Michigan and Tokyo. The GM guys are like, "Those stupid Japs. They invested all that money in hybrids and we'll just rip it off! When will they ever learn that you don't mess with a General..." And the Tokyo folks are saying, "Ignorant Americans. In ten years we will own their little company, fire all of them, and actually produce something worth owning. This 'partnership' is just the foothold we needed to learn enough about their corporate processes to take over like a malignant virus."

Or is it really just an innocent little cooperative venture between major rivals?