Toyota and Suzuki to form capital alliance on August 28 at 15:47
In order to further strengthen the relationship between Toyota Motor Corporation and Suzuki, it became clear that they will start a capital alliance with each other. The aim is to cooperate and accelerate the development of autonomous driving technology, which is an important key in the creation of next-generation cars.
According to the officials, Toyota Motor and Suzuki decided on a capital tie-up on the 28th, respectively, at an open board meeting.
Specifically, approximately 5% of Toyota and Suzuki shares will be acquired for 120 billion yen, while Suzuki will also invest 60 billion yen to acquire Toyota shares.
Toyota and Suzuki signed a business alliance in February, and decided to provide Toyota's hybrid vehicle technology to Suzuki and to supply cars with strengths in India, which is Suzuki's main market. , Have expanded the cooperation.
Under these circumstances, the competition for the development of advanced technology that uses AI = artificial intelligence, which is indispensable for next-generation vehicle manufacturing, such as autonomous driving technology, is becoming a movement that will determine the future of automakers.
Google and Apple have entered the market one after another, and the automobile industry is entering a period of change that is said to occur once every 100 years.
For this reason, the two companies seem to have further strengthened the relationship by holding stocks together, and cooperated to accelerate the development of next-generation technologies such as autonomous driving, thereby enhancing competitiveness.
“Once every 100 years”
The automobile industry is at a milestone when the industrial structure changes drastically on the back of the development of electrification and autonomous driving technology.
Environmental regulations are becoming stricter around the world, and development of not only hybrid vehicles but also electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles is accelerating, and electrification is expected to progress. In addition, competition for the development of cutting-edge technologies such as AI = autonomous driving technology using artificial intelligence and sensors, and "connected cars" that can be connected to the Internet and receive various services is intensifying.
There is also a need for new ways of use, such as car sharing without using a car.
These changes are also called “CASE”, which is an acronym for “Connected”, which means being connected, “Autonomous” for autonomous driving, “Sharing”, and “Electric” for electrification. The competition is fierce with new rivals such as Google and Apple from the US IT companies, and Uber, the leading car company.
For this reason, automakers are accelerating their alliances in order to share huge investments in next-generation vehicles and to accelerate development.
Overseas manufacturers announced that Volkswagen (Germany) and Ford (USA), the world leader in sales for the third consecutive year until last year, will jointly develop technologies for autonomous driving and electric vehicles in July. In February, German BMW and Mercedes-Benz Daimler announced that they would jointly develop autonomous driving technology.
Whether we can cope with this big change is about to make a big difference.