Toyota and Suzuki to join hands for automotive research

Toyota and Suzuki are planning to enter into a partnership agreement in order to facilitate automotive research, especially in areas like environment and safety. Through this partnership, the automakers will also try to share the burden of developing future technologies like self-driving capabilities and low-cost hybrid vehicles.

Both companies are aiming to use the partner's strengths to overcome their limitations. While Suzuki will be stressing on benefitting from Toyota's huge R&D budget, Toyota would like to learn developing low-cost cars for developing markets from its counterpart. However, the companies have made it clear that their products will continue to compete in the market and the partnership will just be limited to sharing research costs.

The automotive industry is changing rapidly with the inclusion of new technologies. Moreover, new players like Tesla are proving to be real threats to conventional carmakers. Hence, automakers are now looking to collaborate with each other in order to modify their technology and portfolio in accordance with market preferences and demands. Since the research cost and scope is enormous, it is quite difficult for a single manufacturer to bear the entire R&D budget needed. This is why collaborative R&D is gaining popularity in the automotive industry.