Ford and Toyota Teaming Up on Hybrid Vehicles

Ford and Toyota are collaborating to hopefully introduce rear wheel hybrid vehicles with sync technology. “Toyota, Ford to collaborate on hybrid truck” by Bernie Woodall of Reuters.com reports Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Toyota CEO AkioToyoda have been in talks for some years about working together and yesterday, it was announced that the partnership is official. The article reports the vehicles should be in the market by the end of the decade.

The first thought most would have about the news is shock. Ford prides itself as the essential American-made rough-and-tumble brand while Toyota is all about fuel efficiency and has enjoyed some success in the U.S. market at the time in which Ford experienced some problems. Most of us see Toyota and Ford as different competitive brands, most unlikely to collaborate. But the article mentions that both have something the other wants.

Ford is well known for their trucks and has excelled in vehicle technology with their Sync system, “an option that allows drivers to control stereos and cell phones with voice activated commands.” Ford has yet to introduce a hybrid able to achieve the success of the Prius. Mulally is quoted saying, “This is the kind of collaborative effort that is required to address the big global challenges of energy independence and environmental sustainability”.

Toyota has the Prius, introduced in 1997 “it has since sold 3.3 million hybrid vehicles”. But the Prius is not a rear wheel vehicle - “Rear wheel drive vehicles in the U.S. market include sports cars and high-performance sedans”.  Toyota has also lacked in vehicle technology, and doesn’t have anything close to the Sync system.

Talks between the two began years ago when Ford was trying to pull itself from its troubles and has now been confirmed when Toyota is still recovering from the effects of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami disaster.

The collaboration makes sense now that the needs and wants of both companies are understood. The only issue is how will both handle branding. Both companies have strong brands and to successfully sell the soon-to-be Ford/Toyota hybrid, the marketing efforts would re-brand both companies as one.