Toyota to Share With GM and Aston Martin?

The folks at Toyota showed a wide range of talent and skills as they moved the automaker past General Motors to become No. 1 in global sales, but a canny sense of timing wasn't one of them. So even though Toyota is currently king of the mountain, it's a much smaller mountain than it used to be.

I'm thinking that's what is behind some recent news reports about the Japanese automaker sharing two of its most important platforms with other OEMs. One appears to be a done deal: Toyota and, uh, Aston Martin have teamed up on a city car concept called the Cygnet, based on the Toyota iQ (pictured left).

Now, the iQ is a tiny three-door hatchback, about a foot longer than the Smart ForTwo and lot further along in terms of technology and refinement. It's already on sale in Japan and Europe, and it's like coming to the U.S. under the Scion brand. Which makes sense, as It looks a bit like a squashed, two-door version of the original Scion xA.

The platform is also slated to support the next-gen Toyota Yaris, as well as a "microvan" and possibly a new, less-expensive-than-a-Prius hybrid. But the thing is, while spreading the costs of building the iQ's new platform among these different models is good, spreading the expenses by selling the platform to another automaker is even better.

And that brings us back to the Cygnet. Expressing the Aston point of view, CEO Ulrich Bez said, "I am confident that this project could become a reality in the not too distant future. This concept — akin to an exclusive tender to a luxury yacht — will allow us to apply Aston Martin design language, craftsmanship and brand values to a completely new segment of the market."

Provided Aston Martin sticks to this principle and builds a production model that is up to its usual standards, the Cygnet is an excellent idea. The more people can see that the "small" in small cars need only refer to size, not amenities, the better for small-car acceptance everywhere.

On the other hand, rumors also continue to hover around the idea that Toyota is going to offer up the Prius for rebadging by General Motors. This is the kind of old-school auto idea that I would have thought everyone would be over by now.

I mean, I thought we "loaned" all that money to GM so it could develop its own fuel-efficient cars with new technologies, etc., etc. Not so the company could buy this stuff from Toyota.

And I don't see what would be in it for the Japanese OEM, as the Prius is supposed to be profitable for the company, meaning its development costs must have already been paid off, as opposed to the situation with the iQ platform. I know there used to be this bizarre belief that Toyota somehow benefits from helping GM, but the Toyota's new president, Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, seems like he's playing hardball.

But this being the automotive industry, I will float one possible scenario that could lead to a Chevrolet Prius: GM has officially announced that it is pulling out of NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.), the Toyota-GM joint venture plant in California. It was probably best known for assembling both the Toyota Matrix and Pontiac Vibe, but, as goes Pontiac, so goes the Vibe.

By the terms of the venture, NUMMI now becomes Toyota's problem. Does it try to expand production of another model there, even though it's cutting production elsewhere and NUMMI, as a union shop in the great car-hating state of California, is an expensive proposition to keep running? Or does it close up the plant and put a couple of thousand union workers out of a job, risking a nice dose of bad publicity?

Or is GM blackmailing Toyota for the Prius technology, willing to trade access to hybrid know-how for a sudden agreement to support building that Chevy Prius at NUMMI?

If that seems improbable, well, yesterday I would have thought the same thing about a Toyota-based Aston Martin city car.