It’s only been a little over a year since the BMW and the PSA Peugeot Citroën groups announced a joint venture named the BMW Peugeot Citroën Electrification (BPCE) for the development, production and purchasing of hybrid and electric powertrain components, and even less since operations began last October, but the two automakers are already parting ways.
In a telephone interview, BMW spokeswoman Micaela Sandstede told Bloomberg News that the Bavarian carmaker is holding talks with PSA Peugeot Citroen about breaking up the 50-50 equity joint venture.
Sandstede added that BMW is looking to take over the operations of the BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification partnership.
“Whether that means the joint venture’s employees move to BMW is undecided,” she said. “We are still in discussions with PSA over the dismantling of the joint venture.”
Currently, BPCE includes a research and development center in Munich, Germany and a manufacturing facility in Mulhouse, France, which employs 250 workers who are supposed to electrify around 10,000 vehicles starting from 2015.
The new comes as a bit of a surprise given that as recently as this past March, BMW was talking about the cost saving benefits of the partnership.
“Our joint venture with PSA Peugeot Citroën is right on track. Together with our partner, we are developing components in the field of electrification and hybridization,” BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer told shareholders in a press Conference on March 13, 2012.
At the end of June, however, BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroen said that they were looking into the future of the partnership after the French company created a new alliance with General Motors.
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