Toyota sells some Tesla Motors shares - Nikkei

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Oct 23 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp has sold some of its shares in U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors Inc , the Nikkei financial daily reported. (http://s.nikkei.com/ZJyLgR)

Toyota invested $50 million in Tesla in May 2010, ahead of the U.S. company's initial public offering in June that year.

Toyota said at the time the investment would give it a stake of about 2.5 percent in Tesla, but the size of its current stake is not clear.

Tesla's shares were trading at $236 on Thursday, up from their IPO price of $17.

California-based Tesla has been supplying batteries and motors for Toyota's RAV4 electric SUVs that went on sale in 2012, but that arrangement is set to end this year after Toyota sold just 2,000 of the vehicles.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company could sign a new deal with Toyota over the next two to three years.

Daimler AG, the parent of Mercedes-Benz, said earlier this week it sold its remaining 4 percent stake in Tesla for a gain of $780 million. Daimler took a 9.1 percent stake in Tesla for around $50 million in May 2009.

Tesla and Toyota representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting By Abinaya Vijayaraghavan; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)