A chance airport encounter between Alan Mulally and Akio Toyoda led to a partnership that aims to produce vastly more efficient pickups The top executives at Ford and Toyota they will work together on a hybrid system for light trucks and in-vehicle multimedia technology. Details will be hammered out in coming months. A formal agreement is expected next year.Mulally, who drove a Lexus before joining Ford in 2006, has visited Toyota several times, including once with fellow Ford executive Mark Fields. "We went to study with the masterat the time. He and Toyoda negotiated terms of the deal.President Barack Obama and automakers have agreed to double the corporate average fuel economy for vehicles sold in the U.S. to 54.5 mpg by 2025.Ford is taking advantage of Toyota's hybrid leadership it has sold 3.3 million hybrid vehicles since 1997. Toyota will gain from Ford's truck-making expertise.Toyota has a rear-wheel drive hybrid system in development, but they need Ford's volume to make it work,"Ford needs a fuel economy improvementshould be mutually beneficial.Ford and Toyota will join forces to develop a hybrid powertrain for pickups and SUVs and make in-vehicle communications less distracting and easier to use.The partnership, announced Monday in Dearborn by executives from both companies, is not the first of its kind.General Motors worked together to come up with a hybrid transmission in 2005 that is available in the Chevrolet Tahoe and SilveradoSierra and Cadillac Escalade. Sales of GM's five hybrid trucks totaled just 2,251 this year through July, down more than 25 percent from last year.What's different now is the 54.5 mpg corporate average fuel economy standard the Obama administration has set for 2025. That means more fuel-efficient gas-only engines, as well as offering gas-electric hybrids, plug-in hybrid electrics and pure electric powertrains in more segments.
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