Thanks to the global economic meltdown, cost cutting is now at the forefront of the automotive industry, but a new report indicates BMW and Daimler – the parent company of Mercedes-Benz and Smart – could be parting ways on their hybrid partnership.
BMW and Daimler have been co-developing hybrid systems for the past few years, but, according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport, BMW is considering cutting ties with Daimler on its hybrid joint-venture. An insider revealed to the German publication that BMW may have found a better opportunity with another automaker.
Although BMW may be looking for an exit, Daimler reportedly wants to keep the partnership with its cross-town rival. The partnership has enabled Mercedes to bring such vehicles as the S400 Hybrid and ML450 Hybrid to fruition, and the German automaker feels there is still more to be gained – especially in the realm of cost cutting – from the close relationship.
But BMW may be balking at Daimler’s new-found commitment to pure electric vehicles. Although BMW has its fair share of EVs planned, Daimler is reportedly keen on skipping over hybrids and moving directly to electric power. Such a move would leave BMW with the bulk of the hybrid development responsibilities and could be the reason the automaker is searching for a new partner.
07/14, 3:40 PM
posted by:
carstuff
Yep, BMW is now going to work more with GM on hybrids. They already did the 2 mode hybrid together.
07/14, 4:11 PM
posted by:
Uncle Butch
dey should all just try to buy da technology from Ford because dey have da best hybrid out dere.
07/14, 4:21 PM
posted by:
junior is awesome
yeah! I am with you uncle butch good point!
07/14, 4:30 PM
posted by:
Bankruptcy2009
Yeah but its does absolutely nothing as far as real gas savings Carstuff. I look at a so called Hybrid Tahoe and 20/20 is all it was good for. That’s terrible. Well Uncle Butch Ford has good Hybrid Tech on their own. We won’t say for sure who has got the best. But it ain’t GM at this point. lol. I really like the Tesla S Sedan when it comes to Efficieny that is the wave of the Future 300 Miles on a single charge what next 6000 miles on a single charge. Never say never. Remember when people thought 6 GB was large sure it was large in its day. now look we can purchase 1 TeraByte Drives and that isn’t even including what SUperComputers use and need to run their Storage addresses.
07/14, 4:34 PM
posted by:
F50
BMW should buy Fisker if they have all the electric tech.
07/14, 4:51 PM
posted by:
KarLoveBoy88
I guess they are going to work with Energizer. I hope that whatever they do doesn’t work with their piss poor quality cars
07/14, 5:27 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
These relationships never seem to work out when both sides want to be the man.
07/14, 6:14 PM
posted by:
FSVT_ROCK
BMW should team up with BYU, one of the largest battery production in China.
07/14, 7:46 PM
posted by:
scratchy
so the M version will have 9Volt batteries instead of 1.5 Volt ? can’t wait for them to put a big turbo on the electric motor !
07/15, 2:26 PM
posted by:
carstuff
Only 20/20? Since you brought it up, which Ford full size truck gets better than this? And actually the Hybrid Tahoe gets 21/22.
07/15, 6:51 PM
posted by:
wobbs
Bancrupcy 2009 – I remeber getting a 251 mb ( yes mb ) drive and thinking how the hell am I goinbg to fill that, and the ohh 72 gb is the same capacity os the human brain we will never need more than that hahah
scratchy why the f^ck do they need a turbo -if its battery powered -