Toyota and Suzuki Partnership

            Toyota Motor Corporation is collaborating with Suzuki Motor Corporation in an effort to share the research and development costs of developing self-driving cars. Suzuki currently has the upper hand in creating small cheap cars, and Toyota wants their help in sharing of ideas of how they make these mini-cars so cheap. Suzuki’s profit in these small cars is also not enough to even consider spending to develop self-driving cars technology, so these companies both team up for a help-me help-you partnership; however, this will not be a merger. These companies will continue to be operated independently, and only share ideas and costs of developing this new technology.

            Suzuki currently holds more than 40% share in India, and these low cost cars are more needed in today’s market, because of Govt. environmental regulations that are getting stricter globally to prevent pollution, global warming, and adapting to increasing world population that puts more cars on the road, especially in Asian and European markets. These regulations can make Toyota’s future uncertain in the Asian and European markets if the future regulation is in favor of the Suzuki 1.0Liter engine small cars, as Vietnam currently has a 100% tax rate on vehicles and Singapore has an extremely inflated price on cars, just to prevent pollution and overcrowding on roads. European nations also tax vehicle owners based on their engine size.
            Toyota already owns shares in Subaru, as they worked together in developing the Subaru BRZ and the Scion FRS cars, just as Suzuki previously partnered with BMW when they wanted to know Suzuki’s recipe for small-car success. This is related to our marketing strategy planning in terms of marketing program, as Toyota’s focus is on long-term profits of the company. Toyotas smallest car in the USA is the Yaris model, but it is not at all popular because the laws in this country do not favor tiny engine sizes.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/toyota-motor-suzuki-in-talks-on-business-partnership-1476255924