Suzuki and Daihatsu have joined a commercial electric vehicle coalition being led by Toyota.
The two car manufacturers confirmed in a statement that they will each acquire a 10 per cent stake in the joint venture, the same stake as Isuzu Motors and Hino Motors. Toyota owns the remaining 60 per cent of the venture.
“With Suzuki and Daihatsu joining the project and working together, we’ll be able to expand our circle of cooperation to not only cover commercial vehicles but also mini vehicles,” Toyota president Akio Toyoda said in a statement. “With this expansion, I believe that we’ll be able to take one step closer to a better mobility society.”
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The joint venture, dubbed the Commercial Japan Partnership (CJP), was established in April 2021 and has three main aims. To improve logistics efficiency by building a connected-technology infrastructure that links truck logistics with mini-commercial vehicles, expand the use of advanced safety technologies across commercial and minivehicles, and cooperate on the use of technologies for the electrification of affordable, high-quality minivehicles.
The partnership will lead to the increased use of hybrid and all-electric powertrains across the small and commercial vehicle segments that Daihatsu and Suzuki specialize in.
“Our mission is to bring to market minivehicles that are affordable and contribute to carbon neutrality and to continue to be an indispensable part of our customers’ lives,” Suzuki president Toshihiro Suzuki said. “However, accomplishing this mission on our own would be very difficult. The whole of society must work toward the same goal to achieve it. Daihatsu felt the same way, and we had been discussing what we could do together. During such, Toyota approached us and invited us to work together to maintain Japan’s lifelines. Because the philosophy and purpose of CJP resonated with us, we decided to join the project.”