Japanese automaker Toyota is collaborating with Chinese company BYD to build an electric vehicle that will be launched in 2022. The partnership between Toyota and BYD is seen as a move by the Japanese company to fast track its development of electric vehicle models in line with industry trends.

Toyota had pursued research on hybrid vehicles and hydrogen fuel cells in its future cars, but its progress has not been at par with the pace of evolution in the global EV market. Toyota presently has a few EV offerings in the market but the brand is miles away from the top and has a negligible market share in the fast-growing market.

It is understood that the Toyota-BYD partnership will see the release of a small and affordable electric sedan in China late next year, and the new electric car will come with a 200,000 yuan ($30,000) price tag. The partnership, according to Toyota, will see BYD providing the key technology that will yield a roomy car that is also affordable. It will be powered by BYD’s blade battery cells with the much improved LFP chemistry.

BYD is a fast-rising tech provider in the EV industry and its proprietary blade battery cells technology is attracting attention from the big hitters in the industry. The new Toyota-BYD electric car is rumored to be slightly bigger than the Toyota Corolla. There are still some key details that are still not available for the new Toyota electric car. It is unclear whether Toyota hopes to expand the availability of the car beyond China.

Both Toyota and BYD declined to comment on the news which emanated from inside sources.

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