
OSAKA/PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Panasonic's decision to halt investment in an electric vehicle battery plant run jointly with Tesla marks a change in strategy for the company, which went all in on the project but now seeks to reduce its dependence on the automaker.
Panasonic sources say that Tesla CEO Elon Musk often directly calls Kazuhiro Tsuga, the president of the Japanese company, to press for lower battery prices.