Dayton Business Journal...
Toyota, Ford to develop hybrid system
Monday, August 22, 2011 

Ford Motor Co.  and Toyota Motor Corp.  plan to work jointly to develop a new hybrid system for light trucks and sport-utility vehicles, according to Louisville Business First. 

Both automakers currently sell hybrid vehicles, and both have been working on their own hybrid systems. The collaboration could make hybrid technologies available sooner and at a lower cost. 

“By working together, we will be able to serve our customers with the very best affordable, advanced powertrains, delivering even better fuel economy,” Ford president and CEO Alan Mulally said in a news release. “This is the kind of collaborative effort that is required to address the big global challenges of energy independence and environmental sustainability.” 

According to the memorandum of understanding signed by Ford and Toyota, the two companies will co-develop the hybrid system, which would be used in light trucks later this decade. 

Toyota bases its manufacturing arm, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, about 50 miles south of Dayton in Northern Kentucky and operates its largest North American plant near Lexington two hours south of Dayton. 

Toyota also has operations in the Dayton region, and many Dayton-area manufacturers supply the automakers, including Ford and Toyota, making the auto industry and any changes among the top automakers an important issue for the Dayton-area manufacturing base that numbers 100,000 workers. 

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