BMW and Daimler Plan Share Swap
Automotive News [AN, sub] is reporting that Der Spiegel is reporting that German automakers BMW and Daimler are planning on exchanging seven percent of each other’s shares. Daimler’s motivations seem clear enough; it’s been looking for a way to end its status as takeover bait for over a decade. (If you remember, the possibility of a hostile takeover had a little something to do with the ill-fated formation of DaimlerChrysler.) BMW’s motivation: cost-savings though component sharing with their [former?] Stuttgart rival. Yes, well… so much for BMW’s publicly-touted status as the last major independent automaker. Der Spiegel says the automaker’s majority owners– the publicity shy Quandt family– are not happy with the Daimler stock swap. I guess 46 percent ownership doesn’t buy what it used to.
More by Robert Farago
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If they agreed to sharing ownership it would be nothing new. Daimler and VW did that a couple of years ago IIRC - not sure that is still in place. As for the Peugeot motors, the current generation MINI shares engines with Peugeot, that includes Petrol as well as diesel. They have been developed primarily by BMW, while Peugeot is in charge of purchasing, wheir their larger bulk gives them advantages. Sharing engines is nothing new, you used to get the BMW 6 cyl diesel in Opel Omegas (Caddy Catera was based off the same car), the first generation new MINIs had Chrysler petrols and Toyota diesels and that did not harm the sales, MB used VW VR6 engines in some of their vans...
BMW, please, run away while you have the chance!
It's not such a crazy idea - it will give impetus to the engineers on both sides to get their behinds into gear and actually start to cooperate on all the areas where it makes perfect sense for the two companies to pool their efforts. On top of that it brings extra stability, although that is more of an issue for MB at this moment, as BMW is unlikely to be outright purchased from outside. A small, FWD car platform is a nice synergy for the two as well, as both the current Mini and A/B-Class platforms are too expensive to manufacture and made in too small numbers to be long term sustainable.