Surprising news today from California… from the WSJ. Toyota and Tesla are partnering up!
Tesla Motors Inc. said it is partnering with Toyota Motors Inc. to make electric cars at a recently shuttered auto plant in Fremont, Calif., in a deal the two companies said also involves Toyota putting $50 million into Tesla.
The cars will be made at New United Motor Manufacturing Inc., known as Nummi, a joint venture between General Motors Co. and Toyota in Fremont that had closed earlier this year, Tesla officials said in a statement.
CEO Akio Toyoda said:
“By partnering with Tesla, my hope is that all Toyota employees will recall that ‘venture business spirit' and take on the challenges of the future,” Toyota President Akio Toyoda said in a statement. Toyota said it plans to introduce electric vehicles in 2012.
I hate to be so cynical, but I think GM also expected Ross Perot and EDS to bring a venture business spirit into GM and, instead, GM had a negative impact on EDS!
It does raise the issue of culture… our friend Pete Abilla of the Shmula blog tweeted:
In the blog post he linked to (“Tesla Motors is not Toyota: A Contrast in Disrespect and Respect of People“), Pete criticized Tesla for short-term thinking and for firing employees via a blog post (or at least making them aware of the Detroit office shutdown that way).
Micki Maynard, from the NY Times, tweeted:
And we had this exchange:
To the readers — what do you think? Reactions? Predictions? Will the UAW be involved?
It will be interesting to see what happens!
If you’re working to build a culture where people feel safe to speak up, solve problems, and improve every day, I’d be glad to help. Let’s talk about how to strengthen Psychological Safety and Continuous Improvement in your organization.
Here is Kevin Meyer’s post from the Evolving Excellence blog on this subject:
https://kevinmeyer.com/blog/2010/05/nummi-is-revived-is-toyota.html
Here is a post from Jon Miller at the Gemba Panta Rei blog:
https://blog.gembaacademy.com/2010/05/22/toyota_partnering_with_tesla/
Is there any word on job openings?
From Facebook:
“Now that’s what I call creative destruction :)”
[…] I was able to tour the NUMMI factory in 2005, which I really enjoyed (see my series of blog posts here). NUMMI was, of course, a joint venture between Toyota and GM (as John Shook talked about recently at the Lean Startup conference). NUMMI was shuttered a few years back when GM pulled out of the partnership, but the building was purchased and re-opened by Tesla. […]
The past 14 years have shown that Musk has NOT bought into TPS. Far from it. I know people who have worked in Fremont who said Elon was VERY dismissive of TPS. Toyota sold their stake in Tesla…