Toyota Motor Corp (7203. T) may consider mergers or acquisitions to procure new automotive technologies, including self-driving technologies, the company’s president said on Wednesday, adding that it had to compete more aggressively against its rivals.
At an annual shareholders meeting President Akio Toyoda said the world’s second-biggest automaker, which took longer to warm to self-driving cars and electric vehicles (EVs) than its rivals, would be more aggressive in expanding in these areas, conceding he may have focused too much on preserving the status quo at the firm until now.
«The auto industry is undergoing big changes, and issues and ideas which we may have thought were far off in the future could affect us tomorrow. That’s why we need to go on the offensive while also preserving our areas of strength, » he said.
«We’ve been investing 1 trillion yen ($9.08 billion) each year for R&D, expanding capex and buying back shares, but this may not be enough. We need to consider all our options, including M&A, to survive in the future.»
As the rise of self-driving cars increasingly blurs the lines between automakers and technology companies, global automakers are trying to expand their role beyond making cars into transportation service providers, raising their research and development budgets and investing heavily in technology companies.
