Toyota chief hopes to lead company past crisis

NAGOYA: Toyota's president says he hopes to lead the company past its recall crisis, adding the automaker is now testing an electric car prototype with technology from Tesla Motors Inc.

Akio Toyoda also says he spent much of his first year at the helm of the world's largest automaker apologizing for Toyota Motor Corp.'s missteps. The company is working to recover from its recall of more than 8.5 million vehicles worldwide, largely for problems related to unintended acceleration.

Toyoda says the company is now testing a prototype with a battery from Tesla, the Palo Alto, Calif., electric car startup. He says the company remains committed to alternative-fuel technologies.

Toyota and Tesla signed a partnership in May.