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Back before the Model 3 was announced, I was hoping that Tesla and Toyota would form a partnership to build and service a mass-market EV. From a purely business
by chmaynard 6y ago
Back before the Model 3 was announced, I was hoping that Tesla and Toyota would form a partnership to build and service a mass-market EV. From a purely business point of view, I think this would have been a huge win for both companies.
Despite the success of the Prius, Toyota made a decision to focus exclusively on fuel cell technology and wasted ten precious years. After Toyota lost that bet, Tesla's superior EV technology could have helped Toyota catch up with the competition. Tesla had no experience with the formidable supply chain and production issues involved in building high-quality cars on a large scale. This is one of Toyota's great strengths.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be bad blood between Toyota and Tesla management. I suspect this may have prevented consideration of such a partnership.
- bob29 6y agoThere was a Toyota and Tesla partnership in 2010, producing a small number of RAV4 EVs, combining Tesla's battery pack and electric drivetain with Toyota's chassis. I haven't found many details outside of wikipedia, not sure the nature of the partnership. If it was about Toyota getting tax credits, Tesla testing an EV drivetrain without having to engineer an entire vehicle platform, or something else.