DaimlerChrysler will this weekend hold talks with Hyundai about participating in the motor industry’s largest joint venture engine development and production programme, the Financial Times (FT) said.
The FT said that senior Hyundai will meet DC’s Chrysler division head Dieter Zetsche in Seoul to discuss production volume and assembly options for the engine programme.
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The JV will also include Mitsubishi Motors, the newspaper added, noting that DC has a 37 per cent holding and management control of the Japanese firm as well as a 10.5 percent holding in Hyundai.
The FT said it understood that the three car makers would assemble 1.5 million engines a year in Asia and North America from common components purchased jointly.
The new engine four cylinder engine would first be launched in Hyundai models in 2004, the FT said, but would eventually be installed in small and medium sized Chrysler and Mitsubishi models.
The FT said that officials hinted that the engine could eventually be produced jointly by Chrysler and Mitsubishi in the US.
Meanwhile the Korea Times, which also reported this weekend’s planned meetings, said the JV would build 2500-3000cc engines, suggesting a V6 may be under consideration.
Joint venture engine development is beoming increasingly common in the motor industry.
Ford and PSA Peugeot-Citroen recently launched the first motor of a new direct-injection diesel engine line in their Fiesta and C3 compact hatchback lines while PSA and Renault share petrol and diesel V6s.
