Honda and Hitachi have officially announced setting up a new company called Hitachi Automotive Motor Systems Limited to develop, manufacture and sell new motors for electric vehicles. It all began in February this year when Hitachi and Honda entered a memorandum of understanding, before they finally signed a joint agreement in March.
While both companies have invested five billion yen each in this endeavour, Hitachi has taken up a 51 per cent stake. The new company will initially be based out of Hitachi Automotive System’s existing facility in Hitachinaka-shi, Japan. On a lighter note, this isn’t the first alternative propulsion venture company Honda has invested in. The company is known to have also tied up with GM earlier this year. The resultant firm called Fuel Cell System Manufacturing LLC targets the introduction of a new fuel-cell system by the year 2020.
As of now, both Honda and Hitachi have not revealed any details on when it expects the new electric motors to roll out. However, they stated that the new company will respond to the growing global demand from automakers for electric motors which will combine the expertise of both companies.
