Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Suzuki Motor Corporation (Suzuki) today announced their agreement to begin considering concrete collaboration in new fields and interestingly, India is key to the collaboration.

As per the agreement, Toyota will help in widely spreading hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) technologies in India through local procurement of HEV systems, engines, and batteries.

Suzuki will supply two compact vehicles built on its platforms (Ciaz and Ertiga) to Toyota in India. It will also supply India-produced vehicles (Baleno, Vitara Brezza, Ciaz, Ertiga) to Toyota for the African market.

There will also be a joint development of a Toyota C-segment MPV, which will be then supplied to Suzuki. Agreement will also include production of the Suzuki-developed compact SUV Vitara Brezza at Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. (TKM) from 2022.

Toyota and Suzuki have been considering the concrete details of such collaboration since having concluded a memorandum of understanding toward business partnership on February 6, 2017.

Toyota and Suzuki, in addition to bringing together Toyota's strength in electrification technologies and Suzuki's strength in technologies for compact vehicles, intend to grow in new fields, such as joint collaboration in production and in the widespread popularization of electrified vehicles.

Moving forward, insofar as Toyota and Suzuki continue to fairly and freely compete against each other, both companies intend to consider further collaboration to realize a sustainable future mobility society while respecting all applicable laws.

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