MENU
SEARCH
Toyota Motor Corp. and its Silicon Valley partner, Tesla Motors Inc., will develop an electric version of Toyota's RAV4 SUV, reported The Detroit News.
The two companies will work on prototypes combining the popular RAV4 with a Tesla electric powertrain. They expect to sell the SUVs in the United States in 2012, the two companies said.
A first prototype already has been produced.
"Tesla's goal is to produce increasingly affordable electric cars for mainstream buyers -- relentlessly driving down the cost of EVs," the Palo Alto-based firm said in a statement.
Tesla now sells an electric roadster priced at just over $100,000, while Toyota is a leader in gas-electric hybrid vehicles. It has said it was planning to start selling electric cars in the United States in 2012.
The two companies announced in May that they would team up to develop electric cars.
Toyota invested $50 million in Tesla, in a side deal to the firm's initial public offering. Tesla bought a factory in Fremont, near San Francisco, where Toyota and General Motors Co. had produced vehicles in the joint North American Motor Manufacturing Inc. venture for 25 years until its closure this year.
Tesla did not say where the electric RAV4 SUVs will be assembled, but the prototypes are being built at its facilities.
Cox Automotive research shows both the opportunities and the challenges in turning consumers’ growing affordability needs into increased fixed-operations revenue.
Read More →
The partner you choose for growth and expansion is key, because better is the ultimate goal instead of growth for growth’s sake.
Read More →
The dealership profit center plays an important role in customer retention, and generation Z customers are showing the highest loyalty rates, based on recent CDK Global data.
Read More →
The Point Predictive study traced a pattern across more than 100 websites it believes are being developed by an international theft ring.
Read More →
The sale of two Minnesota franchises ends a rare multigenerational business while adding to one of the Midwest’s biggest auto groups.
Read More →
California, as usual, led the country in EV registrations in the fourth quarter, but the U.S. as a whole saw a 43% year-over-year volume decrease.
Read More →
Forecasts show that the spring sales season is rising above overriding economic concerns, among them continuously rising car prices, trade tariffs, elevated interest rates, and now a war.
Read More →
The Kerrigan Index shows that despite a chaotic year of musical trade tariffs, high vehicle prices and more roadblocks, acquirers still flush with pandemic-era cash accelerated the consolidation pace.
Read More →
Labor shortages, material costs and tariffs are just a few of the reasons automakers are looking to expand their investments in automation and robotics this year.
Read More →
The Middle East imports a sizable share of vehicles made in the states. It’s unclear how the Iran War could affect the keystone market for U.S. automakers.
Read More →
