Toyota Motor Corp. will build an electric RAV4 in-house in Canada next year rather than having partner Tesla Motors Inc. assemble the model at the plant it acquired from Toyota in California.
The companies said this morning that Toyota's Tesla-powered EV will be produced in Woodstock, Ontario, where Toyota already makes the gasoline-powered RAV4 crossover.
Toyota did not provide volume expectations for the electric vehicle or say how much it expected the model to retail for at its dealerships starting in 2012.
Toyota recently revealed that it will pay Tesla $100 million for an electric powertrain that includes the RAV4's battery module, electric motor, gear box and electronic components. That specific dollar figure suggests that Toyota envisions the Tesla deal as a finite arrangement, rather than an open-ended supply deal.
Tesla currently has its hands full preparing to launch an electric family sedan of its own, known as Model S, on an assembly line in Fremont, Calif. That is the mammoth production plant formerly known as New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., a 50-50 joint venture between Toyota and GM where Toyota previously built Corolla sedans and Tacoma pickups. GM walked away from NUMMI during its 2009 bankruptcy, spurring the venture's demise.
Tesla is retooling the NUMMI plant to prepare it for a 2012 Model S production launch. The Tesla powertrains will be produced at a smaller Tesla plant in Palo Alto, Calif., and shipped to Woodstock for assembly into the Toyota vehicles there.
"The Tesla-Toyota joint development team has agreed that building the vehicle at the Woodstock plant on the same line as the gasoline-powered RAV4, will streamline and simplify the production process and guarantee the highest level of quality control," Ray Tanguay, chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc, said in a statement today. "This is a great example of Toyota's determination to collaborate with companies with leading edge technology."
Lindsay Chappell Automotive News -- August 5, 2011
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