Toyota Motor Corp. has sold its stakes in Californian electric carmaker Tesla Motors Inc., a spokeswoman for Japan's largest carmaker said Saturday.
The sale marks the end of collaboration between the two companies for now, Toyota spokeswoman Akiko Kita said by phone. Toyota held 1.43 percent in Tesla as of July 2016, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In 2010, Toyota acquired a $50 million stake in Tesla as automakers were competing to introduce less-polluting vehicles in the U.S. and sold a shuttered California factory to Tesla for $42 million. The two companies then started to jointly develop RAV4 electric vehicles in Canada in 2011 and later sold about 2,500 units over three years amid culture clashes and recalls.
Toyota formed its own unit to develop electric cars in November 2016 and aimed to introduce electric cars soon.
In May 2010, as the emerging alliance took shape, Elon Musk called the partnership "historic" and said Toyota was a company he had long admired.
In describing his test drive of the Tesla Roadster about a month earlier, Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota said he felt "the wind of the future".
Shares of Tesla have risen by almost 60 percent this year.
What happened before
In July 2010, the two companies announced they have signed an agreement to initiate the development of an electric version of the RAV4.
The deal was unveiled in May of that year by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Toyota’s Akio Toyoda.
With an aim to market the EV in the United States two years later (2012) prototypes will be made combining the Toyota RAV4 model with a Tesla electric powertrain.
Tesla said then it planned to produce and deliver a fleet of prototypes to Toyota for evaluation within that year.
In May 2010, Tesla and TMC announced their intent to cooperate on the development of electric vehicles, parts, and production system and engineering support. Tesla said then it sought to learn and benefit from Toyota’s engineering, manufacturing, and production expertise, while Toyota aims to learn from Tesla’s EV technology, daring spirit, quick decision-making, and flexibility.
Toyota’s electric car push
In November 2016, Toyota Motor appointed its president to lead their newly formed electric car division, flagging its commitment to develop a technology that the automaker has been slow to embrace.
The change comes as the United States, China, and European countries are encouraging automakers to make more all-electric battery cars as they push alternative energy strategies.
Akio Toyoda, grandson of the company's founder Kiichiro Toyoda, has been at the helm of the world's largest automaker since 2009. He will head the company's electric vehicle planning department along with Executive Vice Presidents Mitsuhisa Kato and Shigeki Terashi.
"By putting the president and vice presidents in charge of the department, we plan to speed up development of electric cars," said Toyota spokeswoman Kayo Doi, following a personnel change announcement by the company.
"The president will directly oversee the department's operations to enable decisions to be made quickly and nimbly."
Toyota is also shifting the chief engineer of its Prius petrol-hybrid to its EV efforts, appointing Koji Toyoshima to head the division's engineering team.
The department comprises a new in-house unit to plan Toyota's strategy to develop and market electric cars as part of the company's efforts to keep pace with the tightening global emissions regulations.
Earlier in November, Toyota announced its plans to establish the in-house venture company, which will consist of four people. Each member will come from a different Toyota company, including Toyota Industries Corporation, Aisin Seiki Co., Denso Corporation, and Toyota Motor Corp.
Toyoshima will also join the four-member EV strategy unit.
