Suzuki’s entrance in the Toyota-Mazda EV alliance would create a win-win situation for all the stakeholders speculatively
Japanese auto giant Suzuki is likely to join Toyota and Mazda’s electric vehicle alliance that was formed last month. In February 2017, Toyota and Suzuki agreed to start talks for a business partnership and the latter’s entry into the alliance could be a part of that. In that case, all the three automakers will see a win-win situation.
The alliance includes Toyota, Mazda and Toyota’s parts making brand Denso. These companies agreed to jointly develop the electric vehicle technologies. The new company christened as EV CA Spirit will cater as a development center for co-operative projects in the sector of electric vehicles. Considering the fact that Suzuki is a giant in the small car market, its entry to the alliance would be helpful for Maruti Suzuki in implementing the EV technology in its future cars.
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Maruti Suzuki being the largest carmaker in India is eyeing to grab a major share in the domestic EV market when the country adopts zero emission pure electric mobility by 2030. If Suzuki enters the alliance with Toyota and Mazda, Indian market will certainly experience the benefit from it.
Speaking about the EV CA Spirit, 40 personnel from the three companies have been employed including selected engineers. Toyota is pumping in the majority of the investment at 90%, while Mazda and Denso are investing 5% each. If Suzuki enters the alliance, the ratios would be reshuffled and after Toyota it would become the second major stakeholder.
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The EV CA Spirit is based in Nagoya in Japan. It will develop basic structural technologies for the future electric vehicles that to be rolled out by these brands. These technologies will be introduced to a wide range of EVs across different segments and types. While Mazda will oversee the product planning and computer modeling based development, Denso will contribute with its expertise in electronic technologies. Toyota will provide its TNGA platform, on which the development will be made.
Source: Kyodo