The carmaker, which is still the world's number one, has had a rough year, with more questions about the quality of its products raised than ever before. But the Japanese, open minded as they are, appear to be willing to change.
The same New United Motor Manufacturing facility, now operated by Tesla, with the help of Toyota, is once again proving to be a medium for inspiration. As the two companies go ahead with their joint products, Toyota is finding that it can learn a thing or two from its much, much younger partner.
"We are learning from each other. Hopefully we can collaborate to improve our development process in the future," Greg Bernas, Toyota's chief engineer for the joint vehicle development program, was quoted as saying by Sacbee.
And the learning process seems to be a fast one. Toyota and Tesla stripped down and then reassembled the electric Toyota RAV4 in just three weeks, placing a pure electric heart in under the hood of the vehicle and shipping it to the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Just by adopting the technology developed by others and not creating its own, the Japanese manufacturer has proven that it can change to be in tune with the times. If this change pays off, we'll see in 2012, when the production version of the electric RAV4 hits the market.
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