Toyta to Unite With Tesla For Prototypes;

Toyota is making its partnership with Tesla known for its newest models. Detroit GM is in production of its latest electric Volt model that will be released later this year. Speculation in the past has suggested that Toyota would be partnering with Tesla to produce new hybrid or battery powered vehicles. Nissan is releasing its all electric Leaf model which can be found along with its Frontier model at a dealership with a Leaf and Frontier Inventory. There are also several other hybrid models that will be released by automakers that do not have a large history in the hybrid industry such as Mercedes and Volkswagen.

Tesla is a Palo Alto based electric car manufacturer and researcher. Toyota invested over $50 million into the company a few weeks ago, and since then there have been rumors abound that a new hybrid model would be in development that would feature Toyota's body, features, and technology along with a Tesla powered drivetrain.

The RAV4 and the Lexus RX hybrids will be two of the first models that use the joint technology that the two automakers will work on together. These two new prototypes will be received by Toyota sometime this month. The reason that the RAV4 and the RX were selected were because of these models' capability to handle the large weight of Tesla's battery technology.

Toyota is the world's largest producer of hybrid automobiles, and the partnership with Tesla could produce some of the most popular hybrid models in the world. Tesla is known for its all electric $109,000 Roadster which is currently in small scale production. However, Tesla too will enter the mainstream hybrid market in 2012 with its Model S Sedan that will be produced on a larger scale.

It will be exciting to see which models that Toyota and Tesla end up collaborating on using the latest battery technology and Toyota's production processes.