Future Mini and Alfa Romeo sharing ‘under the skin’ architecture and parts and BMW helping Alfa re-launch in North America are two likely outcomes of the latest auto industry collaboration.
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BMW Group and Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA) on Wednesday confirmed earlier media reports they were considering co-operating on architectures and components for Mini and Alfa Romeo models.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Friedrich Eichiner, BMW’s head of corporate and brand development, and Alfredo Altavilla, FGA business development head and CEO of Fiat Powertrain Technologies.
“We are currently examining with the Fiat Group possibilities for the joint use of components and systems in Mini and Alfa Romeo vehicles in order to achieve economies of scale and thus cost reductions,” Eichiner said.
“The proposed co-operation with BMW is a significant cornerstone of our strategy of alliances. We are delighted to work with such an esteemed and respected partner in the automotive industry with the clear objective of improving the competitive position of both parties,” Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Group and FGA, said.
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By GlobalDataStatements from both Fiat and BMW said neither automaker would provide more details of the possible collaboration for now. They expect to complete cooperation discussions by the end of the year. This was confirmed by a BMW GB corporate affairs spokeswoman who said talks were only at a very early stage.
Fiat’s version of the joint statement said it was possible BMW would help FGA [re]launch Alfa Romeo in North America.
Earlier, suppliers told Automotive News Europe (ANE) that the two companies were working on a new platform for the next Grande Punto as well as the third generation Mini, which is due to go into production at Oxford, UK, early in the next decade.
ANE added that the two carmakers are also jointly developing a new family of petrol and diesel engines.
Fiat has alliances with other carmakers including PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, Ford (the 500 and a new Ford small car replacing the Ka will share architecture), Suzuki and Tata while BMW works with PSA on engine production for the Mini and has a joint venture in China with Brilliance that builds BMW cars there.
BMW did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
