Relations Thaw Between Daimler And BMW. Or Not

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan

A few weeks ago TTAC reported how BMW and Daimler revived a long-ago formed joint purchasing venture in order to help drive down costs for the 2 independent car makers who can’t achieve high volumes of scale. This was seen as quite a big step in a direction few expected. As our resident German put it, “If you think South Korea and North Korea have communication problems, then you should be in a meeting between Daimler and BMW engineers.” He does have a way with words, doesn’t he? But he wasn’t wrong. It’s been a bit of joke to in the industry how Daimler and BMW view each other. As the mustachioed one put it, “Daimler engineers view their colleagues as boorish Bavarian upstarts. BMW engineers think Daimler is a congregation of has-beens.” And you thought relations between GM and Toyota were frosty! At least they had a plant together. Well, it seems that relations maybe thawing between the boys in Munich and the lads in Stuttgart. Kind of…

Supplymanagement.com reports that BMW is predicting that the joint purchasing venture between Daimler and BMW will expand and generate savings of up €100m (about $127m) a year from 2012/2013. A spokesperson for BMW confirmed that it was looking to expand the number of parts they currently buy via the joint venture. “Discussions are ongoing. We might expand if we find further parts and components to buy together” said the BMW spokesperson. However, what was telling was Daimler’s take on the issue. A Daimler spokesperson said “We are not making any forward projections of this kind. The co-operation has been going on for a while and is going well. We focus only on component areas that are not relevant for brand differentiation.” That was rather frosty! Why so cold to BMW? Daimler now owns small stakes in Renault and Nissan and vice-versa. This is a much stronger tie than a shaky joint venture with a bunch of people you don’t really like. There’s nothing to stop Daimler, Renault and Nissan forming a purchasing venture of their own to help drive down costs. The scale of the venture could bring costs down much more than the venture Daimler has with BMW. I hope BMW brought a thick coat. They may get left out in the cold.

Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • Robert.Walter Robert.Walter on Sep 09, 2010

    "“Daimler engineers view their colleagues as boorish Bavarian upstarts. BMW engineers think Daimler is a congregation of has-beens.”" And in the meantime, VW/Audi are eating from both BMW and Daimler's plates...

  • Roamer Roamer on Sep 09, 2010

    Neither are what they used to be. Daimler no longer makes amazingly bulletproof cars. BMW no longer makes astonishingly beautiful cars. If given $100k to pick any one car with, it would be an RS6. US road-legal or not.

  • Analoggrotto TTAC is full of drug addicts with short memories. Just beside this article is another very beautiful article about how the EV9 was internationally voted by a renowned board of automotive experts who are no doubt highly educated, wealthy and affluent; the best vehicle in entire world. That's planet earth for you numbskulls. Let me repeat: the best vehicle in the world is the Kia EV9. Voted, and sealed, and if you try to deny it Fanny Willis is ready to prosecute you; but she will send her boyfriend instead because she is busy.
  • MaintenanceCosts Our Bolt is not going away for a while but if I had to predict today what would replace it, I'd predict an EX30. It checks every box for my wife.
  • Ajla Both Biden and Trump are on record caring ~0% what the WTO says and the US government isn't bound by WTO rulings.
  • Honda1 The FJB Inflation Reduction Act will end up causing more inflation down the road, fact! Go ahead and flame me libbies, get back to me in a few years!
  • Cprescott Fisker is another brand that Heir Yutz has killed.
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