Overclocker

DETROIT — Toyota and General Motors are about to run out their contract for a technological alliance, although the companies say they will continue to talk about technological collaboration.

The five-year contract started in 1999 and was already extended once, but now it expires on March 1 and is not expected to be renewed, the Detroit News reports. However, representatives from both companies say talks about technological cooperation will continue, even though, as the News notes, "beyond a lot of talking…the deal has produced little else." General Motors is working on hybrid-vehicle development with DaimlerChrysler and BMW, not Toyota, for example, while Toyota does not seem to need GM's or any other company's help to move forward in hybrids and other areas of technological development.

What this means to you: It just feels right on a symbolic level to see the two companies doing something together.

Source: http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...ticleId=109399

LexFather

I am CERTAIN, GM botched this up.Toyota has stated they want to help them and EVERYONE with hybrids, selling it to Nissan, Porsche etc etc.

GM is full of crap. Sad. GET RID OF THEIR IDIOT OLD THINKING MANAGEMENT!!!

Overclocker

Damn Mike! You are way fast with the replies... The digital ink of my post hadn't even dried yet.

Gojirra99

February 28, 2006

Christine Tierney / The Detroit News

GENEVA -Toyota Motor Corp.'s top officials, gathered here for the press days of the Geneva motor show,said the companywas still in negotiations with General Motors Corp.about a possible extension of their cooperation on fuel-cell research amid reports that the partnership seemed doomed.

Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported last week that the two automakers planned to end their joint research on fuel-cell development when the current agreement expires at the end of March, ending a promising and potentially industry-leading collaboration inthe effort to develop clean cars powered byalternative fuels.

The newspaper reports blamed aninability by the two companies tocome to terms onpatent disclosures and other issues. The apparent difficulty in concluding a new agreement comes at anawkward time, as GMis strugglingto recover from staggering losses and Toyota is raking in profits.

GM has not commented on the negotiations, and officials declined again Monday to comment on reports that said the fuel-cell portion of the agreement would not be renewed although information-exchanges on other technologies issues such as safety might continue.

Masotami Takimoto, Toyota's executive vice president in charge of powertrain research, said the two companies were still in negotiations about extending their research cooperation, which he said entailed an exchange of technological information. But Takimotosaid reports that the companies had scuttled plans todevelop fuel-cell vehicles in a joint venture were incorrect, as no such venture had been discussed.

Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe saidhe did not want to publicly discuss the substance of the ongoing talks. "We are not having any problems, or challenges or confusion," he saidon the eve of the first press day of the Geneva motor show. He said the newspaper reports were speculative.

The two companies concluded the accord in1999 and begandiscussionslast year about the renewal.But as early as last fall, theirviewson the potential for fuel-cell technology appeared to be diverging, with Toyota sounding less confident that the industry could quickly resolve the technological obstacles to producing and distributing hydrogen in plentiful quantities.

GM'svice president of research and development Larry Burns saidToyota's more cautious stance also might reflect the fact that Japan would probably still needto import sometype of energy to convert to hydrogen to power the fuel cells because it has fewer natural energy resources thanthe United States.

Takimoto said the industry has yet to resolve the tricky problem of storing hydrogen safely and producing hydrogen without emitting a lot ofcarbon dioxide. He said he did not expect Toyota to commercialize fuel-cell vehicles before 2010 but hoped that would occur before 2020.

The two automakers have taken different approaches in their interim efforts to produce cleaner cars.Toyota is currently the leading seller of gas-electric hybrid vehicles, while GM has built millions of vehicles that can run on either ethanol or gasoline.

Gojirra99

The research consortium between GM and Toyota that was written off as dead in some reports last month is still very much alive. The world's two leading automakers have agreed to extend their cooperation on research and development projects in key areas for another two years, both companies said Thursday. The research, however, will no longer focus on fuel-cell technology. Instead, the two auto giants plan to focus on what was described as safety and congestion-related technologies.

Scott Fosgard, GM spokesman, said the change indicates that both companies are satisfied they can move from research into proprietary development of fuel cells that could be used in automobiles. One of the major advantages of fuel cells, which create electricity from a chemical reaction, is that they could help eliminate pollution from private automobiles, advocates of the technology suggest. GM is not backing away from its objective of producing by 2010 a commercially viable fuel cell that could be used in future vehicles, Fosgard added. GM's fuel-cell projects continue to make substantial progress on critical issues such as durability, energy density, and cost, he added.

GM and Toyota have collaborated on basic research since 1999 and the new agreement now extends until 2008. Neither company has ever disclosed how much they spend on the joint research program. -Joe Szczesny

source : thecarconnection

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

Does all the "it's on, it's off" news like this out of GM (this, GTO cancelation news for example) strike anyone else as odd or simply disjointed? There just seems to be a lot of leaks and retractions.

GFerg

Nice. Hope they get this to work by 2010. I think they can do it.

tonydt1g3r

might be hard for a company to come out with hydrogen cars by 2010 when they are going bankrupt before then. was that a low blow?