Toyota is in talks with Mazda about providing its key hybrid technology in a tie-up, Japan’s top business daily reported yesterday.
Both automakers said no decision has been made.
Toyota Motor Corp, the world’s leader in hybrids with the Prius, reiterated yesterday it sees boosting global hybrid sales as important and will consider any request from automakers to share its green technology.
“But there has been no decision on a policy to offer hybrid systems to Mazda,” Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco said.
Mazda Motor Corp, which does not have its own hybrid system, denied the story as “a reporter’s speculation.”
Its stance of making more ecological gas-engine cars and working on its own green technology is unchanged, it said.
“Nothing has been decided on tie-ups at this point,” Mazda said in a statement.
The Nikkei Shimbun, Japan’s top business daily, reported in its yesterday editions that Toyota and Mazda were in the final stages of talking about a possible tie-up in hybrids, under which Toyota would supply Mazda the key components of its hybrid system, including the battery, motor and electronics parts.
That would allow Mazda to start selling hybrids under its own brand as early as 2013, with an annual sales target of 100,000 vehicles, the Nikkei said, without citing sources as is common with Japanese newspapers.
Speculation has been rife that Mazda may want new tie-ups after its longtime alliance partner Ford Motor Co sold much of its 33.4 percent stake in Mazda last year to gain cash amid troubled times.
Ford still owns about 13.8 percent of Hiroshima-based Mazda, Japan’s fourth biggest automaker, and they still maintain some cooperative ties.
Taiwanese actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has died of pneumonia at the age of 48 while on a trip to Japan, where she contracted influenza during the Lunar New Year holiday, her sister confirmed today through an agent. "Our whole family came to Japan for a trip, and my dearest and most kindhearted sister Barbie Hsu died of influenza-induced pneumonia and unfortunately left us," Hsu's sister and talk show hostess Dee Hsu (徐熙娣) said. "I was grateful to be her sister in this life and that we got to care for and spend time with each other. I will always be grateful to
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
TAIWAN DEFENSE: The initiative would involve integrating various systems in a fast-paced manner through the use of common software to obstruct a Chinese invasion The first tranche of the US Navy’s “Replicator” initiative aimed at obstructing a Chinese invasion of Taiwan would be ready by August, a US Naval Institute (USNI) News report on Tuesday said. The initiative is part of a larger defense strategy for Taiwan, and would involve launching thousands of uncrewed submarines, surface vessels and aerial vehicles around Taiwan to buy the nation and its partners time to assemble a response. The plan was first made public by the Washington Post in June last year, when it cited comments by US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
RSS