Toyota and Mazda Joining Forces to Make SUVs

Toyota and Mazda are reportedly getting together to build SUVs. And they'll be doing it at a new joint-venture factory located in the US.

The deal would see Toyota taking a 5 percent stake in Mazda, who would then invest in Toyota as well, according to Nikkei Asian Review. The agreement is expected to be officially announced tomorrow.

The report says that the two automakers would build a plant together, with capacity for around 300,000 vehicles per year. It's expected that they would be SUVs, due to the popularity of those models in North America. It's not clear if they would be separate vehicles, or if engineering would be shared as well.

Mazda already builds the Toyota Yaris sedan for Toyota at a plant in Mexico. That vehicle is a rebadged version of the Mazda2 sedan that is no longer available in Canada. Toyota previously had a US joint-venture facility with GM that built the Pontiac Vibe and Toyota Matrix, but also assembled Toyota Tacoma pickups.

The two automakers announced in 2015 that they would partner to share development costs for alternative fuel and hybrid technology, as well as share manufacturing practices and capacity.