Daimler and BMW are considering joint production of key auto parts, a move that will bring the two traditional luxury car competitors closer than ever before and reflect a fundamental change in the automotive industry .
According to people familiar with the matter, BMW and Daimler are also planning to jointly explore options for electric vehicle platforms, batteries and autonomous driving technologies.
The person familiar with the matter also revealed that the cooperation will be limited to technologies that are not specific to a certain brand, but the discussion is still in its early stages, and any specific decision is not yet clear.
Both Daimler and BMW declined to comment on this report.
Under pressure to invest in self-driving electric vehicles, automakers are increasingly engaging with competitors to cut costs. Volkswagen is negotiating with Ford Motor Co. to produce commercial vehicles and possible autonomous vehicles. In the traditional competition of traditional automobile companies to transform to mobile services, cooperation is a way to become more flexible.
Earlier, Sina Motors quoted BMW Group R & D head Klaus Froehlich as saying that BMW is negotiating with at least two peers to join its autonomous driving camp, and it is expected to be in the next three to four New members announced during the month.
Fleuri said that car companies that initially tried to develop autonomous driving technology alone now realize the huge cost and daunting technical challenges, so they decide to seek cooperation. BMW is currently in talks with two or three large car manufacturers about joining its autonomous driving alliance.
Therefore, Daimler may join BMW's self-driving camp. For a long time, BMW has advocated cooperation with competitors in the self-driving car competition. Therefore, in order to share the R & D costs and the uncertain risks faced, in July 2016, BMW, Intel, and Mobileye established a self-driving alliance with the aim of establishing an open platform for autonomous driving, and providing it to many automotive suppliers and other companies Benefiting companies are open. A year later, the alliance joined Delphi, Continental, Magna and FCA. The alliance's goal is to develop a scalable system that can provide all different autonomous driving as needed, up to the highest L5 level.
The pressure is clear. Increased investment and drastic changes in the industry have caused Daimler and BMW to lower their profit targets for this year. Daimler will release 10 electric vehicles in the next 4 years, and BMW said it will provide 12 pure electric vehicles by 2025. At the same time, traditional car companies have to make huge investments in the areas of autonomous driving and mobile mobility.
Cooperation in automotive technology will significantly deepen Daimler's and BMW's existing collaborative efforts. In 2015, the acquisition group formed by BMW and Daimler acquired the Here map business for up to $ 2.71 billion.
In March this year, Daimler's Car2Go and BMW's DriveNow shared travel business were merged, and the two parties' businesses in taxi, shared driving and parking positioning were also merged into one. Currently, EU antitrust agencies have agreed on Daimler and BMW's plans to merge their car-sharing businesses to some extent.
The person familiar with the matter said that the merger of the two companies' mobile mobility business will include plans to add other services, thus enhancing the prospect of more cooperation. However, last year's media broke the news that the top five German car brands, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Audi and Porsche, were suspected to have illegally established a secret working group since the 1990s to Companies secretly coordinate in the fields of automotive engineering design, cost, parts, market and development strategy.
The EU has launched an investigation into the German auto giants for allegedly colluding in a monopoly. A person familiar with the matter said that investigations into alleged collusion between BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen are still ongoing, which could complicate new cooperation projects.
The people familiar with the matter also said that given the complexity of the product and technology cycle, the ultimate return on cooperation could take years. It can take up to 10 years to build a new car, which makes collaboration extremely difficult.
In 2013, General Motors sold its stake in the PSA Group, the company failed to find cost-savings through joint procurement and product development, and the alliance between Volkswagen and Suzuki also broke in 2016.
Currently, BMW is working with Toyota to produce the Z4 and Supra sports cars, as well as research on hydrogen-powered vehicles. At the same time, Daimler has cross-shareholdings with Renault and Nissan, and the cooperation involves engine sharing and joint production of cars.