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13:44, 07-Aug-2018
Bloomberg: Daimler, BAIC to make electric Smart cars in China
Updated
13:37, 10-Aug-2018
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German luxury carmaker Daimler is in talks with a unit of Chinese partner BAIC Group to form a joint venture for the production of battery-powered Smart vehicles in China, Bloomberg reported on Monday.
The talks are being held with Beijing Electric Vehicle Co, or BJEV, in which Daimler took a stake of 3.93 percent earlier this year, Bloomberg reported, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
It is not clear how big a stake Daimler would want to own in the joint venture, Bloomberg said. Daimler in March said that the stake in BJEV underlined its “commitment to the further development of electric mobility.”
A spokeswoman for Daimler declined to comment on the report, adding that closer cooperation with BAIC and BJEV “further deepened its understanding of Chinese customers’ needs, especially in the field of NEV (new energy vehicles).”
BAIC had no immediate comment.
Daimler has partnered BAIC since 2005 in a joint venture which has seen Mercedes-Benz vehicles produced in China.
However, Smart cars are currently imported into China. The Smart brand saw global deliveries slump by seven percent last year to 135,025 vehicles, and has made estimated losses of four billion euros (4.62 billion US dollars) since its first model was launched in 1998, according to Bloomberg.
Daimler is also working with Chinese tech giant Baidu on automated driving and connected vehicles. In July, the German car manufacturer received permission from the Beijing government to test its autonomous vehicle technology on the roads of the Chinese capital.
(With inputs from Reuters.)