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TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp.7203.T) and Panasonic Corp (6752.T) are about to launch a joint venture next year to produce batteries for electric vehicles (EV) in order to compete with their Chinese rivals, said a source close to the case.
Toyota Motor Corp President Akio Toyoda (left) and Panasonic Corp President Kazuhiro Tsuga attend a joint press conference in Tokyo, Japan on December 13, 2017. REUTERS / Toru Hanai
The joint venture, which will be 51% owned by Toyota and the rest of Panasonic, could also supply batteries to Toyota's technology partners, Mazda Corp.7261.T) and Subaru Corp (7270.T), said the source Sunday.
The source refused to be identified because the discussions on the joint venture are private.
A joint venture would support the agreement announced in late 2017 by the duo on the joint development of higher energy density batteries in a prismatic cell arrangement.
Toyota and Panasonic have said that the project to create a joint venture, announced Sunday by the business daily Nikkei, was not what they had publicly announced.
A spokesman for Toyota said the two companies were working on the battery partnership announced in 2017. Panasonic made the same point in a statement.
As part of a planned joint venture, Panasonic would transfer most of its battery-related equipment and facilities in Japan and China to the joint venture, while those producing batteries for the US electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. (TSLA.O) will remain under society, said the source.
Panasonic already manufactures prismatic batteries for Toyota, while for Tesla, it manufactures cylindrical batteries similar to those used in laptops.
Both companies could announce the joint venture plan as early as this week, according to the source.
The Battery Joint Venture will help Toyota reach its annual sales target of about 1 million electric vehicles and zero emission fuel cell vehicles by 2030.
It will also give Panasonic cost and scale advantages in battery production at a time when contemporary Chinese Amperex technology has become comparable to the industry's long-time leader, with its strong growth in the domestic market. .
Report by Makiko Yamazaki and Maki Shiraki; Additional report by Takashi Umekawa; Edited by Michael Perry
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