SIM-Drive Corp., a Japanese startup firm, will collaborate with 34 partner companies to develop a prototype electric vehicle and popularize its technology by sharing its engineering.

Included in this list of companies are Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., a pioneer in electric vehicles. Founded in September by CEO Hiroshi Shimizu, SIM-Drive Corp. aims to leverage the know-how of automakers, suppliers and trading companies to jointly create the electric vehicle by next year and bring it into mass production by 2013. Continued after the jump!

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Tags:car news, Electric cars, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, mitsubishi isuzu electric car, mitsubishi isuzu ev venture
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After a failed “relation” with General Motors and a new “love story” started with Toyota two years ago, it seems that Isuzu is pretty unlucky with partnerships. Without great success in the automotive market, Isuzu was very well received only on the commercial vehicle segment, diesel powered mostly.

Lately, Toyota was having great plans with the Isuzu brand to develop a small car version with diesel engine, destined for the European market. But, as often happens, plans can be snookered due to different factors such as the economic collapse that Toyota is passing through this period. Among the first budget cuts of the company was the plan for the new Isuzu diesel, so they will probably replace the 1.6L diesel intended with an existing system, a hybrid one, even though Europe is still a very young market for the hybrid technology.

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Tags:car news, toyota isuzu news, toyota isuzu partnership canceled, toyota news
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