Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Hard times have even the longest enemies working together. These days, the globalization phenomenon brings out a couple of rather interesting ideas. Long time rivals BMW and Daimler want to cooperate in finding suppliers for their Mexico plants due to logistic reasons.
Automotive News claims that Klaus Zehender, divisional board member for procurement and supplier quality at Daimler’s Mercedes-Benz unit confirmed that they are working with BMW to build a network of suppliers for the new factories.
"We have had the BMW cooperation for eight years and it is alive and well. We are looking at how to work together in Mexico. The potential cost savings are around 10 percent," Zehender said.
Of course, the whole Mexico plant deal comes as both manufacturers are looking to cut down on costs while also increasing their production capabilities. The German giants have announced big investments in the American country, each pledging to spend up to $1 billion on their plants.
"We work intensively with 1,500 suppliers, the majority among them are willing to expand into the world. If one of them has qualms about international expansion, we tell them that this would have the consequence that we have to build up a new competitor," Zehender said.
With future models BMW and Mercedes-Benz could be using parts manufactured locally, in Mexico. Therefore, they need to convince their manufacturers to also join in and create one or more plants of their own in the North American country.
They could very well benefit from the same deals the Germans have like the country’s growing industrial base and the tariff-free access to the US market. Therefore, the deal seems like a pretty good one, unless they already have production capabilities in the States.
"We have had the BMW cooperation for eight years and it is alive and well. We are looking at how to work together in Mexico. The potential cost savings are around 10 percent," Zehender said.
Of course, the whole Mexico plant deal comes as both manufacturers are looking to cut down on costs while also increasing their production capabilities. The German giants have announced big investments in the American country, each pledging to spend up to $1 billion on their plants.
It's not a full-on joint project
The collaboration will be limited to areas where they have common interests, of course, and they will not be sharing technologies in any way. Furthermore, Zehender declined to make any further comments about specific parts that will be delivered through the new network."We work intensively with 1,500 suppliers, the majority among them are willing to expand into the world. If one of them has qualms about international expansion, we tell them that this would have the consequence that we have to build up a new competitor," Zehender said.
With future models BMW and Mercedes-Benz could be using parts manufactured locally, in Mexico. Therefore, they need to convince their manufacturers to also join in and create one or more plants of their own in the North American country.
They could very well benefit from the same deals the Germans have like the country’s growing industrial base and the tariff-free access to the US market. Therefore, the deal seems like a pretty good one, unless they already have production capabilities in the States.
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