BMW and General Motors May Work Together on Fuel Cells

BMW and General Motors may work together to develop fuel cells in the future. 

Chairman of the Board at BMW Norbert Reithofer has confirmed that the two companies have been in negotiating for a while, even before General Motors purchased 7% of Peugeot Citroën.

"We had no idea that GM and PSA were planning an alliance but our discussions with GM on fuel cells will continue. They have a lot of expertise in this area but we have nothing confirmed yet," said Reithofer.  

BMW already has a deal with PSA to share 1.4l and 1.6l engines, but it says that GM's purchase will have no affect on this partnership. 

The first rumors of this deal came during the North American International Auto Show in January. Nothing came of the rumor at the time, but appears that there may have been some truth in it.

In September 2011, BMW announced that it would invest €100 million with Peugeot into future electric vehicles. This deal included a research and development center in Munich and production center in Mulhouse, France. The venture is called BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification, and the center in Munich was supposed to be finished by the end of 2011. We have not heard too much more about this program since its announcement. 

BMW also crafted a deal with Toyota to share diesel engines in Europe but stipulated that none of its diesels may be used in Lexus models.

While BMW's i-series are using range-extended electric motors for now, there is not reason they could not use fuel cells in the future. The i3 and i8 have not even hit the market yet, but there were rumors in January that BMW might be planning a Prius-fighting i5. 

Source: Green Car Web Site