The start of a blossoming friendship?
According to
Reuters, rival car giants, Toyota and Mazda are expected to put their rivalry aside on Friday to start the construction of a $1.6 billion US assembly plant.
A source told Reuters that the new joint venture will mean that the plant will be able to produce 300,000 vehicles a year as well as employing around 4,000 people when it is opened in 2021.
Production will be divided between the two automakers and the new plant would be a huge boost to President Donald Trump who promised to increase manufacturing and expand employment for American autoworkers.
The location has yet to be decided but the source said that the plant was expected to build Toyota Corolla cars and a Mazda crossover utility vehicle.
Both Toyota and Mazda signed an agreement in May 2015 which stated that the pair would explore various areas of collaboration.
This would not be Mazda's first collaboration with another car company. Mazda had a long-running alliance with Ford until they decided to sell its stake in the company in 2008.
A partnership between Toyota and Mazda, who are both Japanese automakers, would give both more flexibility and capacity and would help them save money in the long run which will be needed to develop electric vehicles in the future.
