Toyota Motor Corp. (Nagoya, Japan) and General Motors Corp. (GM, Dearborn, MI) will scrap a planned fuel cell vehicle joint venture over a disagreement on technology sharing. The two automakers had been aiming to start the partnership in mid-2005, but talks had stalled after they failed to agree on how much fuel cell technology to exchange. The difficulty lies in coordinating the companies' views on how to share intellectual property rights and handle the results of joint research.
In addition, through cooperation with GM, Toyota is also apparently trying to avert auto trade friction between Japan and the United States that may re-emerge with increasing sales of Japanese cars on the US market. Toyota and GM reported that they would continue their cooperation on research and development in environmental technology for automobiles.
