NAGOYA -- Toyota Motor has sold some of its shares in U.S. electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla Motors, signaling that the partners will scale down their cooperation in electric car development, The Nikkei learned Thursday.
The Japanese automaker formed a capital and business partnership with Tesla in 2010, investing $50 million and holding a roughly 2.4% stake in the company as of March 31. It apparently sold an undisclosed portion of those shares on the market. Tesla's stock price has jumped more than 10-fold since Toyota bought in. Had the Japanese company sold a 1% stake, it would have reaped roughly 10 billion yen ($92 million) in capital gains.
