Toyota Motor stated on Saturday it had sold all shares in Tesla Inc by the end of last year, having canceled its tie-up with the United States luxury automaker to collectively develop electric vehicles.
Japan’s biggest car manufacturer had purchased around a 3 percent stake in the Palo Alto-based automaker for $50 million.
Toyota representative Ryo Sakai stated the company had sold all of its shares in Tesla since the end of 2016, part of a routine, periodic review of its financial investments, after it had initially sold down a part in 2014.
“Our development collaboration with Tesla ended a while back, and since there has not been any new advancements on that front, we decided it was time to offer the remaining stake,” he stated.
In November, the Japanese automaker appointed its president to lead their newly-formed electric automobile department, flagging its commitment to establish a technology that it has been sluggish to welcome.
The department consists of a new internal unit to plan Toyota’s method to establish and market electric cars as part of the business’s efforts to equal tightening worldwide emissions regulations.
