As the potential for growth in the world’s major car markets starts to dwindle, look for Japan’s big automakers to follow its big steel companies by diversifying into other technologies. Toyota Motor Co has already formed two software ventures this year, one with Fujitsu Ltd, the other with Nippon Unisys Co, and now comes news from Tokyo that the company is negotiating a third, with Toshiba Corp and IBM Japan Ltd as its partners. According to the International Herald Tribune, the venture will be majority owned by the car maker, will be capitalised at $5.4m, and will develop for administration of its just in time manufacturing across its worldwide network, which links its plants, suppliers and dealers by satellite. Once the new system was in place, the venture, to be established at its Nagoya headquarters, would market the software to affiliates in the Toyota company family.
