Discrete joint ventures and projects

At first blush, it would seem that Toyota Motor Corp., the world's biggest and richest carmaker, has little to gain from teaming up with a pipsqueak such as Mazda.

Yet even Toyota plays the partnership game. And much like its signature Prius hatchback, Toyota's strategy is a hybrid. It exploits a mixed bag of discrete ventures where they make the most sense, while largely avoiding deeper entanglements. The objective is to learn what it can from its rivals and try to fill niches in its own lineup.

Consider the carmaker's recent array of alliances:

Toyota studied hybrid-pickup truck and SUV development with Ford. It produced an EV crossover with Tesla. It is working on a sports car and hydrogen fuel cells with BMW. And it operates a factory jointly with PSA Peugeot Citroen in the Czech Republic. 

Toyota also owns a 16.5 percent stake in Subaru maker Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. That relationship delivered the jointly developed Scion FR-S and Subaru BRZ coupes.

Toyota's latest overture targets Mazda Motor Corp. 

Never mind that Toyota spends nine times as much as the tiny Japanese carmaker on r&d and sells seven times as many vehicles globally . 

President Akio Toyoda insists there are some areas in which Mazda leads his company by a "full lap." They include Mazda's fuel-efficient Skyactiv engines, transmissions and chassis systems, as well as its fetching Kodo design language. 

Toyota had already tapped Mazda to supply Scion with a Mexico-built subcompact sedan for the U.S. when the companies announced tie-up plans in May. Now under consideration: Everything from manufacturing and r&d to "creating a whole new set of values." 

Specifics on potential projects? Those will come later.

For Toyota, part of the allure in partnerships is the promise of something not easily quantified. In its quest for kaizen, or continuous improvement, the Japanese carmaker is sometimes as interested in learning about how

another company conducts its business as it is in achieving a tangible outcome.

That was a driving force behind Toyota's decision to team with General Motors when Toyota began building cars in North America. Their jointly operated plant in Fremont, Calif., was a training ground for the U.S. factories Toyota would build later. 

To be sure, Toyota's free-form tactic has had some misfires. Ford and Toyota dumped their gambit to develop hybrid pickups and SUVs in 2013. Then last year, Toyota turned tepid on battery EVs and killed off a RAV4 that rode on Tesla-supplied battery packs and motors. Toyota later sold some of its stake in Tesla. 

Therein lies the appeal of Toyota's model: If projects don't pan out, the partners easily can part ways. 

Executives in Toyota City aren't interested in calling the shots in competitors' boardrooms. And when Toyota holds a stake in a company, as it does with Fuji Heavy, it rarely draws it under its corporate umbrella, as Volkswagen tends to do in its own quest for scale. Toyota targets tightly and treads lightly. 

The challenge with Mazda will be not stepping on toes while trying to pinpoint projects that don't overlap with Toyota's already vast product and production footprint. That could include more badge manufacturing, development of new powertrains based on Mazda's diesel engines or even cooperation on a rumored compact sporty car to slot below the FR-S in Toyota's lineup. 

After years of being controlled by Ford Motor Co., Mazda is independent again. And its executives show few signs of wanting another big-foot partner. Toyota is likely to oblige; that has been a key to the success of its teamwork template.