Haven't MBenz and BMW collaborated before on powertrains? Also, with the way things are right now, I'm sure the future holds all kinds of technology sharing like this. We've already seen it with Toyota licensing off Hybrid technology to Ford, as well as Ford and GM co-developing transmissions. Not that surprising to see MBenz and BMW looking to save a little money too...

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"the japs they will cry!"
"ooooooone gooooal!"

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I wouldn't make a big deal of development of engines and other bits. Unholly alliances were formed and animosities morphed in less turbulent times.

Ford and VW had the developed an MPV together (Ford Galaxy, VW Sharan, Seat Alhambra), Fiat and PSA (Peugeot, Citroen) did the same thing, Toyota and PSA came up with Aygo, C1 and 107, they're all made in a single factory in Czech Republic, Ford used to source out diesels from PSA, few of them made it to Mazdas, BMW used a Toyota diesel in the first generation Mini.... Porsche had significant input in Harley Davidson engines, Lexuses use Aisin transmissions, as well as Mazdas and many others.... And we're still not talking about steering wheels that all start to look the same...

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This is a great idea, and it will be more common in the future. Not only does it save money in both R&D and parts, but its easier to find replacement parts to fix/mod. At any given point there's probably five competitive car manufacturers working on engines of similar output, each investing tens of millions in their own design. Of course manufacturers still need 'draws' to make them unique, but this would cut costs, which would eventually (we would all hope) make it to the buyer.

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So Mercedes gets cheap garbage. And BMW gets the best engines on the market? Yes, grand idea. I think Mercedes learned their lesson about that.

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