BERLIN — Daimler and China’s Geely will deepen their ties with joint production of gasoline engines, business daily Handelsblatt reported on Tuesday, citing company and industry sources.
Daimler will develop the engines, which its Mercedes-Benz unit will build in Europe and Geely will build in China, the paper said.
The cooperation will save Daimler a “triple-digit million sum” — a German figure of speech implying an amount above 100 million euros ($119 million) and less than a billion.
Handelsblatt said a Daimler spokesman had confirmed the planned cooperation with Geely. Geely owns a 9.69 percent stake in Daimler.
The new engine partnership likely means that Daimler’s existing tie-up with Renault on engines will end.
A joint Renault-Daimler 1.3-liter gasoline engine is used in models such as in the Renault Scenic crossover and Megane hatchbacks and in front-wheel-drive Mercedes models such as the A Class.
Mercedes uses Renault’s 1.6-liter, four-cylinder diesel engines coupled with Renault transmissions in the Vito light commercial van. A 1.5-liter diesel engine produced by Renault is used in Mercedes A- and B-class models, as well as the CLA and GLA crossovers.
Reuters contributed to this report
