Report: BMW, Daimler to Collaborate on Small EVs

BMW AG and Daimler AG plan to co-develop a platform for small electric vehicles that could yield models for both carmakers by about 2024, reports Manager Magazin.

Combined production of the BMW and Mercedes models is expected to be about 500,000 units per year, according to the magazine. The BMW EV likely will be called i2. No information was provided about the Mercedes car.

If approved, the i2 would be about the same size as the current i3 compact EV, BMW development chief Klaus Frohlich tells Manager Magazin. But he says the i2 would use more conventional materials than the i3’s carbon fiber construction to enable a target price of about €30,000 ($33,700).

BMW currently plans to develop only one EV with Daimler, Manager Magazin says. This counters separate reports from Auto Bild and Sueddeutsche earlier this month that indicated the companies are in talks to co-develop multiple EV platforms with the potential of saving each company more than €7 billion ($7.9 billion) over seven years.

The two companies already have inked a deal to merge their mobility operations. Announced last month, the partnership calls for the carmakers to jointly develop driver-assist technologies, including Level 3 and 4 autonomous systems by 2025.