Toyota and Mazda are to jointly develop technologies for electric vehicles as well as connected cars under a new agreement worth 50 billion yen (380 million euros).

Toyota and Mazda will work together on technology, manufacturing and new models.

Building on an existing collaboration announced in 2015, the two carmakers have formed what they term as a business and capital alliance that will explore joint development of technologies for the basic structure of electric vehicles and also establish a joint venture to produce vehicles in the US.

The capital tie-up will see both carmakers take a share in each other for equivalent amounts, giving Toyota a 5.05% share in Mazda while Mazda will get a 0.25% shareholding.

The agreement will also see the carmakers jointly develop connected technology, with Toyota to also cooperate with Mazda in Toyota’s vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies, and collaborate on safety technologies.

The joint venture plant also announced in the agreement will see an investment of around $1.6 billion and will have an annual production capacity of approximately 300,000 units, with plans to go live from 2021.

The plant is expected to produce new cross-over models for the North American market as well as the Toyota Corolla – which was expected to be built at Toyota’s new plant in Guanajuato, Mexico.

The partnership will also explore expanded product sharing, building on current collaborations including Mazda’s supply of a compact sedan to Toyota in North America and plans for Toyota to supply a compact commercial ‘two-box’ van to Mazda in Japan.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda said: “The greatest fruit of our partnership with Mazda is that we have found a new partner who truly loves cars. It has also sparked Toyota’s competitive spirit, increasing our sense of not wanting to be bested by Mazda. This is a partnership in which those who are passionate about cars will work together to make ever-better cars. It is also the realization of our desire to never let cars become commodities.”

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