Mercedes’ parent company Daimler is in talks with BMW regarding the production of a new Electric Vehicle (EV) platform that can be shared by both companies. This is an interesting development as the two firms have been rivals since Daimler’s take-over attempt on BMW went wrong back in 1959.
However, this appears to be a necessary step as both the companies had to lower their profit targets for 2018 due to trade tensions as well as rising expenses to develop vehicles. By jointly developing an electric platform, both the companies will benefit as Mercedes wants to add 10 electric vehicles to its line-up over the next four years, while BMW aims to offer 12 all-electric vehicles by 2025. A joint platform could help reduce research and development costs for both companies substantially.
This pairing is very plausible as BMW has just recently teamed up with Toyota for the Supra/Z4 project as well as other companies like Volkswagen and Ford that are in talks to co-operate on vans and autonomous vehicles. Daimler too is sharing engines with Renault and Nissan. Hence, under these market conditions it is very possible that Daimler and BMW could actually join forces to develop a new EV platform.