Toyota Denies GM Hybrid Deal Coming Soon

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TOKYO - Toyota Motor Corp. President Fujio Cho said Thursday that he affirmed a partnership with General Motors Corp. at a recent meeting with GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner but denied a deal was coming soon to share hybrid technology.

"It's not possible," Cho told a small group of reporters at a reception for auto officials in Tokyo, while acknowledging future talks may produce results.

Cho said GM and Toyota have been exchanging information about another ecological technology called fuel cells, but they have not reached a point of developing technology together.

The Japanese media have been rife with speculation that Toyota and GM may come up with a new deal on environmental technology, such as hybrids or fuel cells, as part of a 1999 pact the automakers have to work together on such technology.

LINK: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050519/ap_on_...japan_toyota_gm

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\"It's not possible,\" Cho told a small group of reporters at a reception for auto officials in Tokyo...
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..."They're like cavemen. We handed them a sun gear from an HSD power splitter, and the GM execs started playing frisbee with it.

We couldn't get them back to the table after that."

:mrgreen: