BMW and Toyota to Cooperate on Fuel-Cell Technology

BMW AG (IW 1000/37) and Toyota Motor Corp. (IW 1000/5) said they have agreed to extend their recently established collaboration and work together on new technologies such as fuel cells.

At a joint news conference in BMW's home city of Munich, BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer and Toyota President Akio Toyoda announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding "aimed at long-term strategic collaboration in four fields."

These are: "joint development of a fuel-cell system; joint development of architecture and components for a future sports vehicle; collaboration on powertrain electrification; and joint research and development on lightweight technologies," the statement said.

"We aim to further strengthen our competitive position in sustainable future technologies," Reithofer said.

Toyoda said his company is "strong in environment friendly hybrids and fuel cells [while] BMW's strength is in developing sports cars."

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012