Filed under: Euro, BMW, Daimler, Mercedes-Benz
Daimler on the rebound looking for a new partner
Dating on the rebound is rarely a good idea, and the soon to be former DaimlerChrysler appears set to prove it again. From a purely business standpoint, the marriage of Daimler Benz and Chrysler should have been a good thing. Both companies would have expanded their reach with relatively little product overlap to begin with. The killer was a culture clash between Americans and Germans that prevented them from playing nicely together.
Now that the split has happened, an anonymous Mercedes executive has talked up the idea of partnering with BMW to Auto Motor und Sport. BMW and Mercedes are already partnering on hybrid development as well as cooperating on diesel after-treatment systems. Partnerships that are limited in scope such as technology or purchasing make some sense but a full merger would probably be a really bad idea, since there is almost complete product overlap and competition between the two companies.
[Source: Automotive News - Sub. req'd]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
James 3:10PM (8/27/2007)
BMW is owned by a family and it is not likely that this family will want to lose its majority say in how BMW is operated. Moreover, BMW continues to advertise its status as "an independent company", so I can't see the Roundel entering into any sort of arrangement.
That said, it makes financial sense to team up to develop new technologies, but that would be BMW's limit.
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Mike 3:28PM (8/27/2007)
James: Well said, I agree 100%.
The development partnering is good for business because it advances basic automotive science and is good for the industry. But when talking about production vehicles BMW has too much riding on their name to do something like merging with a money hungry corp like MB. I would be SHOCKED to see a deal like that go through.
Mr. Oak 3:11PM (8/27/2007)
Hey BMW don't do it. That is unless you don't mind being A$$ raped.
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Barney 7:38PM (8/27/2007)
BMW is not American either and at least smarter. Maybe they should have tried to salvage Chrysler but as I said, they are smarter. They know better then to be saddled with American junk.
Jim P. 4:00AM (8/28/2007)
Yeah Barney,
Why would BMW associate themselves with 'American Junk'? I guess that explains why they've been buying and using GM powertrains for the last 15 yrs or so. The new 6 spd transmission from GM, guess who else is using it?
John P. 3:25PM (8/27/2007)
Mr. Oak is right BMW, don't do it. Mercedes pretty much ruined Chrysler, they'll do their best to ruin you too.
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geo.stewart 6:42PM (8/27/2007)
Oh BMW, MB is like IBM. They both want to be your 'partners', which is their term for a date rape victim.
SPG 3:31PM (8/27/2007)
Dream Partnerships:
Peugeot/Citroen + Chrysler = Chryslers with clean elegant styling, both companies get more platforms and bigger parts bins. Plus we get some Peugeots and Citroen's in North America. C6!
Suzuki + Fiat Group = no more Daewoo's in Suzuki dealerships (somthing they are already getting rid of). We get some choice Fiat's and Lancia's in North America (just like the SX4) and Maserati/Ferrari/Alfa Romeo dealers are able to operate a little more easily.
Volvo + Saab = sure they are rivals and owned by other companies. Companies that are making them mainstream. They need parent companies to stay alive but if they worked together they could be bizzare well made and well loved companies again. Once they are bizzare and turning a profit they could break up and be rivals again. I like that idea.
Ford + Mitsubishi = they are both in trouble but together I honestly feel they could help eachother out greatly. Ford gets associated with a company from Japan and Mitsubishi gets a huge dealer network.
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Danny Boy 3:58PM (8/27/2007)
hmmmm good ideas you got there...
and then every car company in china will copy everyone of those car collaborations
SPG 4:40PM (8/27/2007)
Haha, then we'd get some sort of V8 powered Chevy like pedestrian SUV abortion styled to look like a Saab.
They could call it the 9-7x or somthing.
Wait.........
P.S. Damn you GM
Stéphane Dumas 6:32PM (8/27/2007)
Nice ideas SPG :-) I wonder how Mitsubishi will fit since Ford is in partnership with Mazda? I also taught of another idea such as:
-Peugeot/Citroen-Ford-Fiat, they already in joint-venture in diesel engines in Europe between PSA and Ford and Fiat and PSA have a minivan joint-venture with Ford next-gen Ka will be based on the future Fiat 500.
They could go more deeper in their relationships like for example the Fiat and Peugeot commercial vans could be built in joint-venture with Ford in a move similar to the joint-venture of GM-Europe and Renault with the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro-Renault Trafic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renault_Trafic and the Opel/Vauxhall Movano-Renault Master http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Movano
-Chrysler-Renault/Nissan, I get influenced by a recent article of Pete Delorenzo who think then Carlos Ghosn would be less evil then Nardelli.
A guy nicknamed Bearhawke on Allpar forums imagined once a Ford-Renault-Nissan partnership, how it would fit? it's a mystery to me.
Barney 4:53PM (8/27/2007)
Sharing technology amongst car makers is not new. Becoming a partner to sell cars is not new either but this story doesn't indicate that MB & BMW are joining at the hip. They are merely joing forces to beat the demand for more efficent cars.
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rgseidl 9:12PM (8/27/2007)
I seriously doubt anyone is thinking of a full merger of Daimler AG and BMW AG. There was, however, a rumor that they might want to partner on the development and manufacturing of a platform for cars with low CO2 emissions, in anticipation of the EU directive for MY2012.
Mercedes knows its smart fortwo will need to be replaced before long - with cheap ultracompacts (e.g. Fiat 500) entering the market and sideways parking no longer permitted/possible with the revised model, the competition is going to eat smart's lunch in Europe.
Smart made a hash of its derivative models, they were just too expensive. Given German and French labor laws, though, they will want the factory to keep producing ... something. And they do have that tridion safety cell technology.
BMW, for its part, is having trouble expanding the model range of its Mini brand. The JV with PSA to develop an engine family for transverse FWD layouts is successful, but the start-up costs were very high. A ultracompact positioned below the regular Mini would help recoup costs and meet that 2012 deadline.
The only fly in the ointment is that both Daimler and BMW are premium vendors, indeed bitter rivals. They just don't know enough about building cars inexpensively in very high volume, nor are their sales, marketing and service organizations set up for that. That's why I doubt anything will come of the whole collaboration idea.
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PeakVT 10:32PM (8/27/2007)
"The killer was a culture clash between Americans and Germans that prevented them from playing nicely together."
Did someone at Autoblog really write something so stupid? Because we should all know by now that what killed the deal was the unwillingness of D to share anything meaningful with C.
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v12 11:00PM (8/27/2007)
They should stick to limited research partnerships, anything else would just make better mercedes and worse bmw's.
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jamie 11:25AM (8/28/2007)
Daimler BMW? Yeah, that would be a good idea for Dieter & Co. Then they could plunder their only Euro-competetion to death like they did to Chryco.
How about Daimler-Porsche-Audi-VW? I doubt this relationship would get past the starting gate either.
A good prospect is Daimler Volvo. Sounds ominous. But there are synergies there that could make for a very intriguing partnership.
Daimler-Jaguar-Range Rover. No way! It didn't work for BMW and it won't work for anybody else, except a private equity firm with wads of cash and no brains.
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