While still retaining separate and competitive showroom ledger sheets and parts distribution channels, global automakers are increasingly setting rivalries aside by forming mutually beneficial development deals. These alliances are designed to mitigate the costs and complexities of meeting varied international regulatory requirements and converting the latest automotive innovations into marketable vehicle platforms.
Toyota and Mazda are in the process of leveraging their respective resources via an agreement to “complement and enhance” each OEM’s products and technologies.
Although a joint committee is currently evaluating and negotiating the exact terms of the cooperative efforts, consolidations and closures are unlikely to occur among American sales outlets and their component distribution networks, according to Mazda spokesman Nick Beard.
“It’s not a sales partnership, so it won’t have any impact on our dealerships,” Beard says. “This partnership is very new and thus the details are still being worked through,” yet the flow of replacement parts from the two Japanese automakers is expected to remain intact without significant changes.
Prior joint endeavors involved the licensing of Toyota’s hybrid technologies to Mazda and the production of compact cars for Toyota at Mazda’s plant in Mexico.
“The previous projects were individual projects relating to specific regions, products and units. This new partnership aims to build medium- to long-term synergy focused on the concept of creating new value for cars,” says Toyota spokeswoman Toni Honsowetz. “For example, the major differences include the possibility of expanding the scope of collaboration without placing limits on regions or technical areas, and the possibility of creating new technologies and products beyond the mutual supply of existing products and technologies.”
The anticipated attributes, she says, address:
- development methods that make effective use of limited resources;
- brand design incorporation and application to various models;
- plant investment that is suited to the actual conditions in intended locations;
- further improving driving pleasure as well as environmental and safety performance;
- building a complementary relationship that goes beyond the framework of conventional cooperation;
- not placing limits on regions or technical areas; and
- improving manufacturing capabilities in Hiroshima and further revitalizing local industry.
A dispatch from Reuters, citing two unnamed insider sources, reports that Toyota is considering providing Mazda with its fuel cell and plug-in hybrid technology. Mazda is contemplating sharing its proprietary SkyActiv series of fuel-efficient gasoline and diesel engine technologies.
At the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, Toyota announced that it is inviting royalty-free use of some 5,680 fuel cell vehicle (FCV) patents, including key technologies developed for its new Mirai FVC model.
“The first generation hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, launched between 2015 and 2020, will be critical, requiring a concerted effort and unconventional collaboration between automakers, government regulators, academia and energy providers,” says Bob Carter, senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales USA. “By eliminating traditional corporate boundaries, we can speed the development of new technologies and move into the future of mobility more quickly, effectively and economically.”
Trailblazing customers
“This is more than just a hydrogen car,” notes Toyota spokesman John Hanson, referring to the company’s substantial financial support for developing a suitable U.S. hydrogen fueling infrastructure in California and the Northeast.
“We think we are at the beginning of moving from a petroleum society to a hydrogen society, and this is just the beginning of it,” he says. “We’ve been developing this (hydrogen) vehicle for 20 years, and we know it’s not going to happen overnight – it’s going to take time for consumers to adapt. Toyota isn’t in the hydrogen fuel station business, but we’re working with existing fuel providers.”
FirstElement Fuel has been engaged to assist in installing 20 hydrogen fueling stations across California this year, with another 20 scheduled to be implemented in 2016. Toyota is also collaborating with Air Liquide to develop a phased-in network of a dozen hydrogen stations in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
“We need to start someplace, so we’re starting with California and the Northeast,” says Hanson.
Sales of a limited Mirai production run are to begin at eight California dealerships in October, with potential “trailblazing customers” pre-approved based on their proximity to hydrogen filling stations. The Mirai, which can travel up to 300 miles on a single tank of hydrogen, will arrive at selected Northeastern showrooms in 2016 in conjunction with Air Liquide establishing an appropriate lineup of FVC pumps.
“A reliable hydrogen infrastructure is essential to the widespread adoption of hydrogen as a clean and sustainable energy solution for consumers today and into the future,” says Air Liquide senior executive Ole Hoefelmann. “Hydrogen is not only the energy source for zero emission vehicles, it is the cornerstone of a broad infrastructure to power and enable sustainable energy production, distribution and storage for industry, communities and generations to come.”
The Mirai (“future” in Japanese) was initially launched in Japan late last year, and to further development of a suitable hydrogen fueling infrastructure there, Toyota is establishing yet another OEM joint project by partnering with Nissan and Honda to participate in the Japanese government’s Strategic Road Map for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells program.
Financial support will be available through the Tokyo-based Research Association of Hydrogen Supply/Utilization Technology (HySUT). Founded in 2009 with the goal of stimulating FCV demand, there are currently 19 HySUT member firms and institutions, including energy providers and automakers.
Honda has announced plans to bring an FCV to market next year and Nissan anticipates unveiling an FCV by 2017.
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