Toyota has sold all of its shares in Tesla as it shapes up to rival Elon Musk's electric car start-up.
Toyota sold all of its shares by the end of 2016. Late last year, the company set up an electric car division. The department comprises a new in-house unit to develop Toyota's strategy to develop and market electric cars as part of the company's efforts to keep pace with the tightening global emissions regulations.
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According to Bloomberg, Toyota held a 1.43% stake in Tesla in July 2016.
In 2010, Toyota acquired a USD50m stake in Tesla and sold a shuttered California factory to Tesla for USD42m. The two companies then started to jointly develop RAV4 electric vehicles in Canada in 2011 and later sold about 2,500 units over three years. However, the collaboration was reportedly marked with culture clashes amid culture clashes and other operational issues.
Toyota intends to start mass-producing electric vehicles by 2020 and is prioritising full EV product development, having specialised for many years in hybrids.
