Mazda has long been in talks to use Toyota EV and hybrid technology. In return, Toyota gets access to the petrol and diesel Skyactiv engines.
I think this is a positive sign. Mazda has done an admirable job stretching every R&D dollar across as much of their line as they can. Even running such a tight ship, profitability is precarious for such a small company since Ford left them in the wind. If they can share their engineering prowess with Toyota in exchange for shared R&D, this will go a long way to increasing their stability.
All the recent news stories have driven home the fact that Mazda is not looking to be the next high volume automaker. They are heavily focused on creating repeat customers and driving their product lines to entry-level, affordable enthusiast cars. The value Japanese version of BMW, if you will. Not a whole lot of manufacturers have filled this space, so it will be interesting to see if they can pull it off. Obviously, they have a lot of work to do to get there, but they are off to a good start since they freed themselves from their former Ford corporate overlords.
Mazda is often written off here in North America as a backwater Japanese brand using the Ford parts bin. Nothing could be further from the truth these days, but perception is often reality. However, it is important to remember that Mazda has the #1 selling car in Australia (Mazda 3) and they sell very well in Europe. These markets are continuing to subsidize their efforts to stabilize their North American operation.