Ford and toyota take flight with joint hybrid

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Toyota and Ford take flight with joint hybrid and telematics plans
http://imsadvstr2.lyris.net/t/144693/5808970/93510/0/




It was a chance meeting of two globe-traveling road warriors at an airport that persuaded Ford and Toyota’s top executives, Alan Mulally and Akio Toyoda, that they could find common ground in jointly pursuing a series of automotive innovations.

With their journeys completed and their enthusiasm communicated down the chains-of-command, official negotiations began in April, and by August, a deal had been cut.



The automakers have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that they will equally collaborate on the development of an advanced new hybrid system for light trucks and SUVs, along with working together to complement each company’s existing telematics platform standards to bring more Internet-based services and informational options to their respective customers.

A formal agreement on the MOU is expected by next year.

Ford and Toyota report that the collaboration will allow them to establish enhanced hybrid technologies sooner and more cost-effectively than either company could have accomplished alone.

“By working together, we will be able to serve our customers with the very best affordable, advanced powertrains, delivering even better fuel economy,” says Mulally, Ford’s president and CEO. “This is the kind of collaborative effort that is required to address the big global challenges of energy independence and environmental sustainability.”

Toyoda, Toyota’s president, says, “Not only is this tie-up clearly one aimed at making automobiles ever better, it should also become an important building block for future mobility in the U.S.,” adding, “By building a global, long-term relationship with Ford, our desire is to be able to continue to provide people in America automobiles that exceed their expectations.”

The OEMs are to jointly develop as equal partners a new light truck and SUV rear-wheel drive hybrid system and component technologies while separately integrating the new engineering into their respective future vehicles.

For years, both Ford and Toyota have been working independently on similar developments aimed at delivering better fuel economy.

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“This agreement brings together the capability of two global leaders in hybrid vehicles and hybrid technology to develop a better solution more quickly and affordably for our customers,” says Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s group vice president of global product development. “Ford achieved a breakthrough with the Ford Fusion Hybrid, and we intend to do this again for a new group of truck and SUV buyers – customers we know very well.”

“In 1997, we launched the first-generation Prius, the world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid. Since then, we have sold about 3.3 million hybrid vehicles,” notes Takeshi Uchiyamada, Toyota’s executive vice president of research and development. “We expect to create exciting technologies that benefit society with Ford – and we can do so through the experience the two companies have in hybrid technology.”

The resulting rear-wheel-drive hybrid system “will be based on an all-new architecture to deliver the capability truck and SUV customers demand while providing greater fuel economy,” according to a joint statement issued by the two firms. Each company is to determine the calibration and performance dynamics characteristics of their own vehicles.

And because telematics plays an increasingly more important role in the in-car experience, both OEMs have agreed to collaborate on standards and technologies needed to enable a safer, more secure and more convenient array of next-generation systems. The telematics collaboration relates only to standards and technologies, and each company will continue to separately develop their own in-vehicle products and features.

“Ford has made tremendous progress in the area of telematics,” Kuzak says. “We have unique and very good solutions today with SYNC and MyFordTouch. Working together on in-vehicle standards can only enhance our customers’ experience with their vehicles.”

“Toyota has also invested heavily in telematics in various countries around the world, with services like the G-BOOK and G-Link. In the U.S., we have just introduced the accessible, easy-to-use Entune,” says Uchiyamada. “By sharing our know-how and experience, we would like to offer even better telematics services in the future. Ford has also been building telematics systems, and for the same reasons.”

What had been considered a “dream” can become “practical reality” under the collaboration, according to Uchiyamada.

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We need to think carefully about how to ensure that cars remain valuable to society in their second century. Great advances in information technology and in communications are transforming the world. And automobiles need to be part of those advances,” he says.

“Information technology and communications will play a big role in future transport. Vehicles will no longer be self-contained units. They will be part of a larger interaction with other vehicles and with the transport infrastructure,” Uchiyamada explains. “Cars will fulfill a new role in people’s lives.”

The cooperation related to the hybrid aspect of SUVs and light trucks is particularly important for reaching the domestic market and meeting its long-held affinity for larger vehicles, he notes.

“Those kinds of models are indispensable to American customers,” Uchiyamada points out. “And providing them with our hybrid technology will help conserve energy and reduce output of greenhouse gas here in the United States. That was our thinking in considering the collaboration,” he says.

Uchiyamada notes that Ford’s role as a pioneer in developing hybrid technology is an attractive element of the transaction along with its position as a leader in selling trucks and SUVs in the United States.

“We expect to create exciting and socially beneficial technologies with Ford, and we can do so because our two companies have enough experience to create a synergy effect in hybrid technology and in telematics,” he adds.

“At the same time, we will compete harder than ever in the spirit of ‘making great cars,’” says Uchiyamada. “Our competitive stance will help maximize benefits for customers and for society at large. We at Toyota believe that cars can and will become partners in more-fulfilling lifestyles,” he adds.

“We are counting on this collaboration between Toyota and Ford to benefit American society and to open a new page in the history of the world automobile industry. As an engineer, I will be deeply gratified to see us fulfill those aims,” Uchiyamada observes. “We have a lot of details to work out with Ford before we can tell you more about our collaboration.”

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[FG_Frodza]

Very interesting mate.. Can only be a good thing for Ford to share some ideas with arguably the industry leader. I think it should happen more often, sharing ideas between companies for the good of the entire industry.