Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it has sold some of its stake in Tesla Motors Inc., days after German luxury car maker Daimler AG disclosed it had divested its Tesla shares for a sizable gain, reported The WSJ.
The sale came “as part of our process of regularly reviewing our investment portfolio,” Toyota said in a statement. “We have a good relationship with Tesla, and will evaluate the feasibility of working together on future projects.”
Toyota invested $50 million in a then-fledgling Tesla in 2010. In March, the Japanese auto giant reported owning a 2.4% stake in Tesla shares, with an indicated value of about $690 million.
Earlier this year, Tesla disclosed that its agreement to sell batteries to Toyota would likely end this year. Toyota executives have recently criticized electric cars, saying vehicles powered by fuel cells running on hydrogen are a better choice as an alternative to gasoline or diesel fuels. Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk has in turn criticized fuel cells.
Toyota didn’t say how many Tesla shares it sold. Daimler earlier this week said it sold its entire 4% stake in Tesla, the remaining shares from an initial $50 million investment, for a gain of about $780 million.
Daimler and Toyota each were sitting on large gains on their early investments in Tesla. Each of the two global auto giants now increasingly encounter Tesla as a rival. Tesla’s Model S sedan, which starts at $71,000, competes with Daimler’s Mercedes S-class and Toyota’s Lexus LS sedans for the most affluent consumers in the U.S., China and Europe.
Tesla shares surged during the past year to a peak of $291, but since September Tesla’s share price has skidded by about 19%.
Toyota’s action was first reported by Japan’s Nikkei financial news service.
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