Toyota to supply core hybrid parts to Mazda

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp plans to supply core components for hybrid vehicles to smaller rival Mazda Motor Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported on Thursday.

The components will be used in a hybrid vehicle Mazda is planning to launch as early as 2013, with a sales target of some 100,000 units a year, the Nikkei said.

Under the deal Toyota will supply batteries, motors, control units, and other components made by group parts makers to Mazda, the Nikkei said.

Mazda approached Toyota with the request for the hybrid components, the Nikkei said, adding that an announcement on the alliance is expected soon.

A spokeswoman at Toyota and a spokesman at Mazda said they were checking the report.

The Mazda spokesman added that the Hiroshima-based carmaker, affiliated with Ford Motor, has officially been mulling various options on hybrid car technology, including outsourcing its development instead of developing it on its own or with Ford.

Mazda has not said it would launch a hybrid car in 2013, he said.