TOKYO/NAGOYA, Japan -- Toyota Motor is stepping on the partnership gas, planning a mutual investment with Mazda Motor on top of last year's full takeover of Daihatsu Motor, as a rewriting of auto industry norms forces it to seek collaboration to improve quality as well as scale.
"In this great transition phase, we must play offense as well as defense," President Akio Toyoda told shareholders at a June meeting in Aichi Prefecture. "All options are on the table, including mergers and acquisitions," he said. That declaration came as a "shock," according to one group member head, as the president "rarely talks about capital policy."
