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BMW negotiates Daimler alliance, buys out car-service partner Sixt

Sixt sells its stake in DriveNow car-sharing to BMW BMW in talks with Daimler to combine car-sharing Combining car-sharing business to aid robotaxi plans FRANKFURT — Germany's BMW has bought out partner Sixt from their joint venture DriveNow, paving the way for a broader car-sharing and driverless taxi alliance with Daimler to compete against Uber and Lyft. Car rental company Sixt said on Monday it would generate an extraordinary pre-tax profit of about 200 million euros ($248 million) in 2018 from the sale of the DriveNow stake to BMW for 209 million euros. "With DriveNow as a wholly-owned subsidiary, we have all options for continued strategic development of our services," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, BMW's board member for Digital Business Innovation. "Our experience with mobility services supports our development of future autonomous, electrified and connected fleets," he said, adding that BMW aims to have 100 million customers for "premium mobility services" by 2025. The Sixt deal comes as BMW moves closer to a deal to combine its car-sharing services with Daimler's Car2Go, a person familiar with the discussions told Reuters last week. The German carmakers want to build a joint business that includes car sharing, ride-hailing, electric vehicle charging, and digital parking services, a senior executive at one of the companies said on Monday. Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW declined comment on the status of potential talks on their car-sharing business. "This is speculation, we do not comment," BMW said. The senior executive, who declined to be named because the plan is not public, said: "This will create an ecosystem which can also be used for managing robotaxi (driverless taxi) fleets." BMW would contribute its ParkNow and ChargeNow businesses to the common company, the executive said, adding that there were still differences of opinion over the valuation of Car2Go. The market for ride-hailing services currently makes up around 33 percent of the global taxi market, and could grow eightfold to $285 billion by 2030, once autonomous robotaxis are in operation, Goldman Sachs said in a recent research note. BMW and Daimler are now working on developing autonomous cars, vehicles which could enable them to up-end the market for taxi and ride-hailing services.

Ferrari hails Vettel as the 'moral winner' after 'stolen' F1 race

MONTREAL — Ferrari hailed Sebastian Vettel as the moral winner of the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday while the German raged at being robbed of victory by race stewards. "They are stealing the race from us," the angry German exclaimed over the team radio as he was told he was under investigation after running off the track and into the path of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton. Vettel was given a five-second penalty, finishing first but having to hand victory to Hamilton. "No, no, no. Not like that. You have to be an absolute blind man, you go on the grass how are you supposed to control your car? This is the wrong world," the Ferrari driver yelled after being notified of the penalty. "It's not making our sport popular, is it? I mean, with these kind of decisions," he told Sky Sports television after the podium ceremony. He had earlier parked up in the wrong place and stormed straight to the Ferrari hospitality area before returning to the pitlane. There he rearranged the numbers in front of the cars, switching the 'one' board from Hamilton's car to the space where his Ferrari should have been. "If it had happened to me I would have kicked the damn board and thrown it against the car," said Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff, whose team has now won the first seven races of the season. "I am of course biased for Mercedes, and I say there is a rule that says you need to leave a car's width when you go off the track and I think his instinctive reaction was 'I need to protect that position' and maybe that was a tiny bit too far." Wolff said he was surprised by the stewards' decision but also defended them. The officials included experienced Italian racer Emanuele Pirro, a former F1 driver and five times winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours sportscar race. "I think the stewards up there need to be people that need to be supported," said Wolff. "There is Emanuele up there, it doesn't go any more professional and experienced than Emanuele. Said Vettel, "People want to see us race and that was, I think, racing. I hope the people come back, that's the main thing obviously... it's just a shame when we have all these little funny decisions." Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto indicated there could be no appeal by the Italian team but said there was no doubt about the real winner. "It's not down to us to decide, and that's the sport. But certainly if you look at the crowd, everybody I think today believes that there was nothing Sebastian could have done," he said.

Daimler wants to cut EV research spending as it preps EQ

Daimler AG is hoping that the legwork it's done preparing its EQ electric-vehicle sub-brand will allow it to slightly reduce annual spending on plug-in vehicle technology. The Mercedes-Benz parent is looking to cut electric-vehicle research-and-development spending to $13.2 billion in 2017 from about $15.4 billion this year, Bloomberg News says, citing comments Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche made to journalists in Hamburg, Germany, this week. Daimler's annual R&D spending is up from about $11.5 billion in both 2013 and 2014. Like its competitors – for example Audi and BMW and its i sub-brand – Daimler is aiming to have as much as 25 percent of its annual vehicle sales be battery-electric within the next 10 years as part of an effort to meet stricter greenhouse-gas emissions mandates in both Europe and North America. In fact, Mercedes-Benz and Daimler's Smart division collectively have at least 10 electric-vehicle models on their slates during the next few years, though Zetsche said the German automaker will continue to find ways to make its gas- and diesel-powered vehicles more fuel-efficient as well. Daimler introduced a concept version of the Generation EQ electric SUV at the Paris Motor Show late last month. It comes powered by two electric motors and is made up of a combination of steel, aluminum, and carbon fiber, and boasts a 311-mile single-charge range (on the relatively lenient European testing standards). The SUV also has 402 horsepower, and the ability to go from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than five seconds. Zetsche said at the time that Daimler was prepping powertrains and platforms for electric sedans, wagons, coupes, and roadsters, in addition to SUVs. Additionally, Daimler's Deutsche Accumotive unit is producing the lithium-ion battery packs for the EQs. Featured Gallery Mercedes-Benz Generation EQ Concept: Paris 2016 View 19 Photos News Source: Bloomberg News via Automotive News-sub.req. Green Mercedes-Benz smart Electric eq mercedes eq