---
title: "Toyota Severs Ties With Tesla, Launches Their Own Electric Car Division"
description: "The company has begun its own electric car division and may also be helping to bring a flying car into reality."
date: "2017-06-05"
modified: "2017-11-30"
authors:
  - name: "Patrick Caughill"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/patrickcaughill.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/toyota-severs-ties-with-tesla-launches-their-own-electric-car-division"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
  - "Tesla"
tags:
  - "electric vehicles"
  - "flying cars"
  - "tesla"
  - "toyota"
---

# Toyota Severs Ties With Tesla, Launches Their Own Electric Car Division

![tesla electric vehicles flying cars](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/174256920_ba4004dbb6_o.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin813/174256920/in/photolist-gp7vE-nRid7X-5Wgr7N-5Wgjb5-aXtpdF-kv7htM-g9ovb6-UqkjXn-egY9pw-5Wgomj-aNTaHR-8QKqjt-oiaU4w-e9heJv-68d66x-5Wc7en-5WgrzQ-cFwYZu-5f8FRj-e6RW5g-yd47h-5WcbqD-gmiUXc-5Wc4Ea-eg7FSe-8UjurJ-evaBVE-oUWVcP-SZgVRD-5WbWmV-8zaX1U-4aiS-4KULbZ-phbJin-gp7vC-eg7FvV-JK5Qzq-FsipY-4KZ1vC-egYaR1-b55KNR-egSqyt-AvLZM-o3GNrw-n2ecsz-oKmGT4-UwBZe8-egdKeZ-57Kxcn-9sxdmV" target="\_blank"\>Kevin813/Flickr\</a\>\</em\>*

[Toyota](<https://www.toyota.com/>) officially ended its relationship with Elon Musk's Tesla by selling off its remaining shares of the company by the end of last year. The Japanese automaking company began with a $50 million investment for a three percent stake in the company.

In a statement, Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai said, [via *Reuters*](<https://finance.yahoo.com/news/toyota-sells-shares-tesla-tie-053727186.html>), "Our development partnership with Tesla ended a while ago, and since there has not been any new developments on that front, we decided it was time to sell the remaining stake." Interestingly, late last year, Toyota formed an [electric car division](<http://www.toyota-global.com/innovation/environmental_technology/electric_vehicle/>) of its own. So, it looks like Japan's biggest automobile company is looking to compete for Tesla's market share.

News from [the ](<http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39937279>)*[BBC](<http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/39937279>)* points to Toyota investing in [Cartivator](<http://cartivator.com/>) to develop a flying car. The startup has been crowdfunding their vehicle, the Skydrive, which has projected speeds of about 100 km/h (62 mph) and the ability to fly 10 meters (33 feet) off the ground.

![Credit: Cartivation](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/toyota1.jpg>)Credit: Cartivation

This move directly opposes previous statements made by Elon Musk regarding flying cars. In an interview [with ](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-16/elon-musk-is-really-boring>)*[Bloomberg](<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-02-16/elon-musk-is-really-boring>)* earlier this year he said, “Obviously, I like flying things. But it’s difficult to imagine the flying car becoming a scalable solution.”

Electric cars have quickly become the clear front runner in the future of personal transportation. Still, it is exciting to see that flying cars may not altogether be DOA.

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrick-caughill-74178a61>)

## More

- [Toyota Is Eager to Bring a Flying Car to the 2020 Olympics](<https://futurism.com/toyota-is-eager-to-bring-a-flying-car-to-the-2020-olympics.md>)
- [Toyota Will Test Their AI-Powered Driverless Cars in 2020](<https://futurism.com/toyota-will-test-their-ai-powered-driverless-cars-in-2020.md>)
- [Toyota Slams Electric Cars, Says They’ll Never Catch On](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/toyota-slams-electric-cars-says-theyll-never-catch-on.md>)
- [Toyota’s Futuristic Concept Car Comes With Wings and a Built-In AI](<https://futurism.com/toyotas-futuristic-concept-car-comes-with-wings-and-a-built-in-ai.md>)
- [The Next Car You Buy Could Be Solar-Powered](<https://futurism.com/the-next-car-you-buy-could-be-solar-powered.md>)
- [Toyota Making Electric Car With “Game-Changing” Solid State Battery](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/toyota-car-solid-state-battery.md>)
- [Toyota Is Launching a $2.8 Billion Self-Driving Car Company](<https://futurism.com/toyota-self-driving-car-company.md>)
- [Elon Musk: Tesla Open to Merging With Another Carmaker](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-tesla-could-merge.md>)