LAS VEGAS: Daimler AG’s incoming chief executive officer said he’s open to working with other automakers and technology firms to share the burden of the industry’s costly technology shifts.
“We’re open to talk, if there are concrete topics and it’s a win-win situation,” Ola Kallenius (pic) told reporters here last week. “But everything that’s important to our brand we’ll continue to do ourselves.”
Global automakers have stepped up alliances and collaboration projects in recent years, overcoming deep rivalries, to stem record investments in electric and self-driving cars as well as new digital services like ride-hailing.
Daimler, maker of the world’s bestselling luxury-car brand Mercedes-Benz, is currently merging its car-sharing offerings with German peer BMW AG to boost scale. The competitors are also mulling potentially deeper tie-ups.
Sharing costs on making cars has been a key driver behind many alliances, including Daimler’s existing tie-up with Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co. With the looming shift to electric cars, that pressure is only intensifying.
Battery-powered models remain more expensive to produce than conventional combustion engine vehicles, with little choice for manufacturers but to boost sales to meet tightening emission limits. In addition, trade tensions and unpredictable fallout from Brexit are hitting carmakers’ profits.
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“Increased spending on new technology, rising costs for fading out diesel, input-cost headwinds and a currency drag all add to Daimler’s woes, suggesting Kallenius will be laser-focused on cutting costs,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Dean said in a note. Signs of easing US-China trade tensions have helped to put the company on firmer footing, he said.
Kallenius, currently Daimler’s development head who’ll succeed veteran CEO Dieter Zetsche in May, said becoming more nimble and agile will be key to navigate through the industry’s transformation.
“We have to sometimes think more like a software company and be fast,” the 49-year-old said.
Daimler isn’t prepared to cooperate on designing features like the MBUX infotainment system, Kallenius said, reserving joint work for technology that’s not brand-specific and not at risk of regulatory scrutiny. The new gadgetry includes voice control, restaurant search and artificial intelligence that adjusts lighting.
Daimler already cooperates with BMW on purchasing certain components, and the two teamed up in 2015 together with Audi AG to acquire digital mapping company HERE Technologies.
In a related development, Reuters reported that China’s Geely Group said it has not sold any shares in Daimler AG, denying a Bloomberg report that the Chinese firm had slashed its 9.7 percent stake in the German carmaker by more than half.
“As a long-term investor, Zhejiang Geely Holding has not sold any shares. The Daimler shareholding remains unchanged,” a Hangzhou-based spokesman for Geely said on Friday.
Bloomberg reported that Chinese billionaire Li Shufu’s Geely had sold a 5.4 percent stake, citing people familiar with the matter, but that the new owners of the shares were not known.
