Toyota and Mazda to decide on collaboration over US car plant

The boards of Toyota and Mazda are expected to decide later today on a possible collaboration between the two Japanese carmakers.
The possible development comes at a time of waning car sales in the US , but could also represent something of a win for president Donald Trump who has been keen to attract and keep manufacturing State-side as part of his plans to boost the domestic economy.

Toyota could take a roughly 5 per cent stake in its rival to build an assembly plant in the US and as well as jointly develop key electric vehicle technologies, the Nikkei reported.

The US plant, in a location yet to be decided, could cost $1.6bn, that would create 4,000 jobs and be up and running by 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal citing a person briefed on the plans.

Toyota, which is due to release its first-quarter earnings report after the stock market close on Friday, said in an emailed statement the two carmakers had signed a memorandum of understanding in 2015 “to explore various areas of collaboration”.

“We intend to submit a proposal to our board of directors today regarding the partnership with Mazda, however, we would like to refrain from providing further comment at this time,” the company said.

A spokesperson for Mazda also confirmed the company’s board would hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the matter, but would not comment any further on details of the reported tie-up.

Mazda shares jumped 5.2 per cent on the news and Toyota shares were up 0.4 per cent, compared to a 0.2 per cent decline for the Topix benchmark in Tokyo on Friday morning.