BMW and Mercedes sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Right now luxury carmakers are doing booming business, and rivals BMW and Mercedes are faring better than ever. Both auto manufacturers produce in excess of one million vehicles annually, and profits are coming in by the fistful. At the same time, Audi is growing faster than both luxury stalwarts, and with 22 models coming in the next couple years, the gap may between No. 3 and the perennial Big 2 German luxury autoamakers may shrink even faster. One reason for Audi's pace is that the folks from Ingolstadt can pool engineering and parts resources with VW, Porsche, and even Lamborghini, giving the luxury maker flexibility to produce more products using less money.
A very competitive market is pushing Mercedes and BMW to work together to find those same synergies, and plenty exist. BMW sales and marketing chief Michael Ganal points out that both companies are premium car makers with a lot of money vested in high tech, and combining resources on some projects will help both companies ultimately remain independent. The two are already working with GM and Chrysler on hybrid powertrains, for instance. Automotive News reports that Ganal didn't go into details concerning any partnerships, but we're hoping they do work together to find a new supplier for their unintuitive navigation systems.
[Source: Automotive News -sub. required]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
SSBR 9:52PM (6/11/2007)
God I hope they don't merge. Don't mess with BMW! Mercedes is great for heritage and snoody factor. BMW is the best damn handling car, ever.
http://www.rolesor.com
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Sandeep 10:17PM (6/11/2007)
I hardly think they'll merge. Probably more along the lines of sharing some systems (xdrive/4matic maybe? diesel?) and maybe even some manufacturing capacity in one place or another (for example, the factory that BMW is leaving in Eastern Europe, used to make the Mini. I forget which city exactly).
Synergy only works if they actually work together, rather than telling the other to do better (coughDaimlerChryslercough). Hopefully they can make it work.
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Ken 11:24PM (6/11/2007)
I agree, it won't be a merger, more of a sharing of costs and production capacity. Maybe the two of them together can finally turn a profit on smart.
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DJLaw 1:20AM (6/12/2007)
"Unintuitive navigation systems"....I think you are being way too kind with that statement.
bgdc 2:33AM (6/12/2007)
I love all the people who rip on iDrive - bunch of freaking morons. Five bucks says most of them didn't spend even five minutes trying to use the system. It's not a big deal and it takes very little effort to figure it out.
Would I get iDrive on my next bimmer? No but that's mostly because I don't see the point. I don't use navi, so iDrive doesn't really offer me anything I can't get from standard controls. Regardless, it's not difficult to use; most car reviewers that blast it do so for one of two reasons: they're jumping on the bandwagon or they're legitimately confused by a very simple interface.
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Toy Yoda 2:59AM (6/12/2007)
I have a 6-series. And iDrive is very simple to use. The biggest complaint about iDrive is that it's response is way too slow.
I would get an iDrive on my next car too, simply because I like the simplified dashboard. I think that's the whole point of iDrive, is to increase driver awareness by providing a less cluttered dashboard. It's safer to have one big knob to manipulate (up, down, twist clockwise twice), than to have many tens of knobs laid out.
The former method, you don't have to take your eyes off the road, or lose driving awareness as you feel around the dashboard for the right knob.
To me, this is the really big advantage iDrive has over traditional systems. Now, if they could just make the damn thing to respond faster, it would be perfect.
Stuart 8:22AM (6/12/2007)
I don't think you people understand what this articles actually mean. This is what I make of it -
Consiodering Mercedes and BMW probably have about 30 - 50% of exactly the same system e.g. car locks, abs system etc... all made by practically the same companies so if they buy together as a bulk then they will get the systems cheaper.
On top of that they could share factories that are not running on full capacity such as the SUV factories in america.
Plus they could serious cut cost on buying steel/Aluminium/titanium carbon Fibre etc if they buy all material for products together again buying bulk to pay less.
Then there is costs which could be split for future car such as Hydrogen, diesel, Hybrid etc........
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Jenny 8:34AM (6/12/2007)
BMW is my favorite sports car and it is the safest too.
Jenny
http://www.spaml.com
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Tommy T 9:47AM (6/12/2007)
i saw your name and number on the bathroom wall
Bart 9:30AM (6/12/2007)
I see a lot of people making wrong assumptions and statements very much biased.
Like Jenny.
Jenny, you're wrong.
Stuart made a good observation, maybe try reading that before you reply.
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PeakVT 10:16AM (6/12/2007)
Hilarious. Mercedes blew $38B on not sharing parts with Chrysler, and now it is going to share parts with BMW.
Freaking hilarious.
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Jit 10:40AM (6/12/2007)
True they blew $38 billion on chrysler but sharing with BMW is seen as only slightly less of a desirable badge then a Mercedes rather then chrysler which is a world apart. Remember Dieter Zetche said this when the Chrysler breakup was announced.
Coming to think of it, excluding the hyper cars (Maybach, Rolls etc...) Merc can only share with BMW without denting their image and vise versa with BMW. Considering the C/3 and E/5 and realeased a year apart from their rival they could actually share a platform between one another. As long as they are building their own engines and chracteristics into the cars it shouldn't make much difference.
Maybe they could setup a specialist company to produce some parts together, produce platforms together, bulk buy and then split any profit 50/50 between onme another. They could also sell the platform to coach builders like Fisker.
p.s. Sure BMW may be more sporty but Mercedes is probably the safest brand out of all automakers even Volvo. The only other brand that can probably compare is Renault who have about the same 5 star rated cars.
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PeakVT 10:54AM (6/12/2007)
Why didn't MB do the outside supplier trick with C? Identical parts with different part numbers for each brand. Let MB do the engineering and then have C start buying the part a few years later, and some Chinese company a few years after that.
$38B and 9 years later MB is back at square one. Hilarious.
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Stuart 12:37PM (6/12/2007)
Actually its square 1 million as they don't have Chrysler's $20 liabilites hanging around their necks.
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Bruno 3:41PM (6/12/2007)
Now that Mercedes is free, it will crush BMW once and for all, AHAHAHAHAHAHAH!, oh...
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George 2:40AM (6/13/2007)
For me, BWM is still the best. Besides from its good feature, it is the safest car to drive.
_______________________________
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BMW Lover...
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Chris G. 9:16AM (6/13/2007)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the two companies come quite close to merging post-WWII? So this wouldn't be the first time they have thrown around the idea of working with one another. That doesn't necessarily mean a merger nowadays, though, because BMW is an "independent company of ideas."
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Vernon 11:46AM (6/13/2007)
BMWs are definitely up there in terms of safety. With BMWs superior handling and driving dynamics, accident avoidance is your first line of defense -- and a damn good one too. Drive one before you talk.
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PETER M. 11:16PM (7/02/2007)
I OWNED A MERCEDES 500 AND A BMW 7 SERIES. THE BIMMER IS " THE ULTMATE DRIVING MACHINE", HANDS DONE.
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