“The proposed cooperation ... would enable the
parties to bring together the engineering and
manufacturing and mobile software technology
to focus on the growing battery electric vehicle
market,” Fiat Chrysler said in a statement.
Talks were aimed at reaching a binding
agreement ’’in the next few months,” the
company said.
Automakers around the world have announced
a series of electric vehicle partnerships to share
the soaring cost of technology development.
Companies including General Motors Co.
and Toyota Motor Co. have electric vehicle
joint ventures with Chinese partners to take
advantage of their experience at making low-
cost vehicles.
The Chinese government has a credit-based
system that encourages automaker to sell electric
vehicles, leading to a proliferation of brands. But
industry analysts expect high development costs
to drive many of them to merge.
The trend has led to a complicated mix of ties
among competitors.
Daimler AG’s Mercedes Benz has electric vehicle
joint ventures with both BYD Auto, one of the
biggest global makers of battery-powered
vehicles, and rival Geely Holding, which is best
known abroad as the owner of Sweden’s Volvo
Cars. Geely also has two separate electric brands,
Geometry and Volvo’s Polestar.
Beyond its stake in PSA Peugeot, Dongfeng
also has joint ventures with Nissan Motor Co.,
Kia Motor Co. and Groupe Renault, all of whose
product lineups include electric models.