Toyota has just revealed that it sold all its remaining shares in Tesla late last year. The Japanese carmaker had initially sold a portion of its shares in Tesla in 2014. Their remaining shares, they claim, were sold as a part of a ‘regular, periodic review of its investments’.
Toyota had bought a three per cent stake in Tesla back in July 2010, amounting to $50 million. The Japanese giant then sold a major portion of its shares in October 2014, which at that time were valued at $700 million. Toyota stated that its development partnership with Tesla ended a while ago and since there have not been any new developments ever since, the Japanese giant decided to sell the remaining stake as well.
Before Toyota, Daimler had also invested about 10 per cent in Tesla’s shares at that time and walked off with $800 million after selling those shares in 2015. The German carmaker benefitted from Tesla with electric projects in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric Drive and the Smart EV. Toyota, on the other hand, used Tesla’s know-how for electric RAV4.
After the end of their partnership, Daimler began its in-house EV development. Meanwhile, Toyota shifted focus to hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles. However, Toyota understands the importance of electric future and has seen a great success with its hybrid cars. Late last year, Toyota flagged a new division which will focus only on the electric vehicle development.
Although the exact selling price of the final shares is unclear, it is estimated to be somewhere around $500 million. With the partnership, Toyota hoped to get acquainted with Tesla’s start-up management culture, while Tesla benefitted by escaping the likelihood of bankruptcy.
