Tesla Motors: Toyota is acquiring a $50m stake

Toyota Motor Corp are trying to put their recent troubles behind them, and are looking to the future with the announcement they are going to have a $50 million stake in Tesla Motors Inc. The venture with the California Company is to develop electric vehicles.

It is being reported by Alan Ohnsman at Bloomberg.com that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said Tesla will purchase a closed Toyota joint-venture factory in California, where they plan to build its Model S and other cars. Toyota is the world’s biggest seller of hybrid autos, and will bring them together with the only company selling U.S. highway-legal electric powered cars.

Tesla is preparing to raise $100 million in an initial share sale, and currently sell the Roadster electric sports car priced at $109,000. The chief executive of Toyota Akio Toyoda said “I’ve felt an infinite possibility about Tesla’s technology,” “By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business’ spirit.”

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