As countries and regions around the world adopt increasingly stringent policies to help reduce greenhouse gases, new regulations that mandate a certain proportion of electric vehicle sales are beginning to emerge. Complying with these environmental regulations, while ensuring the sustainable growth of our companies, requires the development of a wide range of powertrains and technologies. In a statement, the partners said that they regard electric vehicles (EVs) as a key technological field in this process alongside fuel cell vehicles.

With EVs yet to find widespread market acceptance, the huge investments and time required to cover all markets and vehicle segments is a pressing issue for individual automakers when responding to the widely varying demand for vehicles around the world.

The new company—called EV C.A. Spirit Co., Ltd—will engage in the following:

• Research into the characteristics (common architecture) that define optimum performance and functions of EVs from the standpoint of both individual components and the whole vehicle.

• Verification of component installation and vehicle performance realized by these characteristics.

• Examination of the optimum concept for each car classification with regard to each component and each type of vehicle realized.

Through this joint technological development project, by dedicating an equal amount of development resources, ensuring efficient development processes, and taking advantage of existing production facilities, Mazda and Toyota intend to focus their resources on fundamental vehicle values to enable the creation of appealing EVs that embody the unique identities of each brand and avoid the commoditization of EVs.

The companies also aim to create a business structure that is open to participation by other automakers and suppliers.