Naomi Tajitsu and Maki Shiraki
Long guarded about what was beneath the hood of its pioneering Prius cars, Toyota Motor plans to open up its powertrain technology to rivals, hoping this will boost sales and speed up the industry’s shift to lower-emission vehicles.
Announcing last week it would expand its gasoline hybrid technology development, Toyota said it would consider selling complete powertrain modules – engines, transmissions and other drive components – to its competitors.