BMW And PSA Start Formal Hybrid Joint Venture
Now we know why Reuters became confused about Daimler and Renault: It’s those other French forging a bloody alliance with those other Germans as well!
France’s PSA and Bavarian BMW will invest 100 million euros ($138 million) in a hybrid technology joint venture, Reuters reports, hopefully getting the partners right this time.
The joint venture has a name, “BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification.” I can only imagine the discussions about who would get top billing here. The joint venture will operate in two locations. R&D will be conducted somewhere around Munich. Mulhouse in France will be where cars will eventually be built. BMW and PSA had dalliances for a while, and a few weeks ago they agreed on developing hybrid power trains together. A formal joint venture is a whole other matter.
The R&D part in Germany will employ 400 people. According to a BMW press release, “Additional jobs in Mulhouse will be added in time for the start of production in 2014. When production has fully ramped up, the French facility will have about 250 employees.” Mulhouse is an existing PSA plant with 9,400 people that make some 280,000 cars a year.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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So is the Duel Mode Hybrid just going to be allowed to die on the vine. I do realize that was expensive however wouldn't it be better to use it than to develop a new one. Is it really that much more expensive to manufacture? First Chrysler then M Benz and GM and now BMW.. Nobody wants it so what was the point in making it. All four couldn't have been wrong during the RD about how much it was going to cost to build. What happened. This is a prime opportunity for someone like Mazda to come in and get the tech for pennies on the dollar. Surely it would cost them less to own this than to rent Toyota's version. I drove the Altima hybrid while out in Cali a while back and its not smooth at all. Nissan should have realized that someone else hybrid couldn't work that well with their engine. The duel mode would give Mazda a unique offering with their sporting driving traits. I read somewhere that the tech doesnt scale down well for small cars but Mazda could start in its CX9 with a diesel. But then again what do I know. I just like the idea of the duel mode.