Daimler – the parent company of Mercedes-Benz – has worked with BMW on several different initiatives, but company CEO Dieter Zetsche wants the two automakers to have a closer relationship. Daimler recently partnered with BMW to purchase vehicle components.
Zetsche said that “few areas” would be off limits for a Daimler-BMW partnership, but failed to mention which areas those would be. “It’s clear that we are two independent companies whose success in the market depends of the strength of our brands, so brand integrity is a cardinal imperative,” Zetsche told Automotive News. “This has to be considered at all times but it is not something that would prevent broad cooperation.”
Zetsche didn’t rule out Mercedes-Benz and BMW sharing platforms in the future, but said the Mercedes brand would retain its inherent luxury characteristics.
Daimler and BMW worked together to develop their latest hybrid systems, so it wouldn’t be too far out of the question for the German automakers to partner on future vehicle platforms. The move would likely save the automakers hundreds of millions of dollars and it would still be possible to tune each vehicle to meet its brand’s criteria.
