BYD Company and Toyota Motor Corporation have signed an agreement to establish a joint company to research and development for battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

The new R&D company, which will work on designing and developing BEVs (including platform) and its related parts, is anticipated to be established in China in 2020, with BYD and Toyota to evenly share 50% of the total capital needed. Additionally, BYD and Toyota plan to staff the new company by transferring engineers and the jobs currently involved in related R&D from their respective companies.

In 2008, BYD became the first company in the world to sell mass production of plug-in hybrid electrified vehicles (PHEVs). Since 2015 onwards, BYD’s sales of BEVs and PHEVs have been ranked first in the world for four consecutive years.Toyota has sold more than 14 million electrified vehicles worldwide and has accumulated extensive knowledge concerning the development, production, and sale of both hybrid electric vehicles and their related core components.

Based on the thinking that electrified vehicles contribute to the society only when its popularized, Toyota is initiating electrification globally. In China, Toyota is also working on spreading electrification and also developing vehicles which meets Chinese customer’s needs in collaboration between Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing (China) and the R&D centers established at Chinese joint venture companies with China FAW Group Corporation (FAW) and Guangzhou Automobile Group.

With the newly established joint R&D company, Toyota and BYD aim to work together to further develop BEVs that are attractive to Chinese customers, and by further promoting their widespread adoption, aim to contribute toward environmental improvement.