Other car-makers are apparently looking at mergers and acquisitions. After plenty of rumors regarding either a GM-Chysler or a GM-Ford merger (which would create a the-bigger-they-are-the-harder-they-fall company) have surfaced this week, a new unconfirmed report has appeared from the Pandora box of automotive rumors.
Don't tell anyone, but one of the the heaviest fought and longest running arch-rivalries in the automotive world might end with a truce. Daimler AG (you know, the big boys at the helm of Mercedes-Benz) and the BMW Group might share more than a technology or two.
Daimler and BMW have already collaborated a few years ago on the MINI engine, which was a 1.6 liter coming from Chrysler (then under the DaimlerChrysler umbrella), and more recently on a hybrid drive system, which is also shared with General Motors. Well, some voices in the industry have said that their partnerships might not end here, but they will also include sharing powertrains or even entire car platforms.
Word is that BMW chairman Norbert Reithofer and Daimler head Dieter Zetsche already had show-me-yours-I'll-show-you-mine discussions in the past months and that an agreement between the two companies might reach a conclusion as soon as this December.
With an entirely new all-aluminum twin-turbo V12 in the pipeline for Mercedes and the continuous development of 4 and 6 cylinder turbo engines at BMW, the two giants might have found a cornucopia of much needed cost-cutting measures by sharing more than 1-2 technologies. We are expecting an official announcement of their collaboration in the following months.
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