BMW to join hybrid project - sources
09/07/2005
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German luxury carmaker BMW will join DaimlerChrysler and General Motors (GM) in an alliance to develop new hybrid vehicle technology, two industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
A BMW spokesman declined to confirm or deny the carmaker’s hybrid plans pending a formal announcement.
Hybrids burn less fuel by adding one or more electric motors to a conventional petrol or diesel engine. The batteries help power the vehicle and recharge automatically by capturing energy during braking.
Last month DaimlerChrysler and GM finalised a deal to co-develop hybrids as they try to catch up with Japanese rivals on the fuel-saving systems that reduce harmful emissions.
The automakers have said they will develop a “two-mode” hybrid technology that boosts both acceleration and fuel economy by 25 percent and can be used on a wide variety of vehicles.
Joining the project marks a shift of emphasis for BMW. The world’s largest maker of premium cars has until now focused on developing next-generation powertrains that burn hydrogen in converted internal-combustion engines or that use hydrogen in fuel cells.
Its shares were up 1.2 percent at 37.55 euros by 0942 GMT on Wednesday, outpacing the DJ Stoxx European car sector index , after it reported strong August global unit sales.
The alliance teamed GM, the world’s biggest automaker, and German-American group DaimlerChrysler, the global number five, against such rivals as Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co Ltd , which have a head start in the hybrid market.
FRESH LOOK AT HYBRIDS
The “two-mode” hybrid system, adapted from GM’s transit bus hybrid on the market in some U.S. cities today, uses smaller electric motors that work like a gear set to offer what the partners call superior performance and fuel economy.
That allows the system to use a smaller conventional engine, making it more cost effective than competitors’ hybrids.
GM will first use the system in late 2007 in its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon full-size sport utility vehicles. Chrysler will follow with a hybrid version of its Dodge Durango full-size SUV among a range of hybrids.
Daimler’s Mercedes brand is also working on an application for rear-wheel-drive passenger cars.
The “two-mode” hybrid system will improve fuel economy at highway speeds and with trailer towing, which are both key for the U.S. market, the companies have said.
Toyota’s Prius passenger car, first launched in Japan in 1997, has emerged as the most popular hybrid.
Toyota plans to build 180,000 Prius cars this year, and is targeting combined annual output of 62,000 Lexus RX400h luxury SUVs and Highlander hybrid cars, both launched earlier this year.
Toyota had initially set a goal of selling 300,000 hybrid vehicles annually by this year or next, and has said it aims to boost that to 1 million as soon as possible.
Its success has prompted other manufacturers and suppliers to re-think their hybrid strategy.
German automotive industry suppliers Continental AG and ZF Friedrichshafen said on Tuesday they had joined forces to develop fuel-saving hybrid technology.
“The trend is toward full hybrids,” Karl-Thomas Neumann, head of the Continental Automotive Systems (CAS) division of the tyremaker and car parts group, said in a statement.