Smart move Toyota, but it wasn’t intended as a stock market bonanza. Toyota bought $A67 million of Tesla shares – or three per cent of the company – in 2010 in an alliance that helped Toyota fast-track the electric RAV4 to market and, at the same time, prop up Tesla that was financially bleeding.

Toyota wasn’t alone – Daimler had also bought a $A67 million share bundle in 2009 which allowed it to use Tesla’s expertise to develop the electric drive units for the Smart ForTwo and Mercedes-Benz B-Class EV.

But the alliances didn’t last. Daimler sold its shares in 2014 for $A1 billion and developed its electric drivetrains inhouse. In the same year, Toyota sold a slice of its Tesla shares for $A925 million.

In its latest financial reports, Toyota shows it sold the remainder of the Tesla shares in late 2016 for about $A670 million, combined with the 2014 sale to return almost $A1.6 billion to the balance sheet. That gives a 32-fold return on investment in six years.

Toyota said it sold the shares because the alliance with Tesla had not produced any new developments. In the meantime, Toyota had initially spent considerable development time on the fuel-cell powerplant before returning to electric motors, while Tesla had engaged in expanding its car production.

In a statement, Toyota spokesman Ryo Sakai said: “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.”

In November 2016, Toyota expanded its electric car division though said it had not given up on fuel-cell technology.

By Neil Dowling