PSA looking to strengthen ties with BMW beyond engine sharing

October 27, 2009 Omar Rana Peugeot

Peugeot RCZ

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Phillipe Varin targets to deepen its cooperation with BMW beyond engine sharing. According to a report by Automotive News, Varin said that he has been talking with BMW CEO Norbert Reithofer about cooperating in areas such as purchasing and components including transmission and climate control systems.

Right now, PSA and BMW’s Mini brand share 1.6L gasoline engines. Varin said that PSA is open to offer BMW a new 3-cylinder engine that the automaker will introduce in 2011. In return PSA would buy larger engines from BMW.

“We have set up groups of experts to work on deepening our cooperation on gasoline engines,” he said in an interview with German business daily Handelsblatt.

Varin said that PSA is not looking to merge with another automaker and will focus on building alliances. PSA also has a partnership with Mitsubishi on electric-vehicles and is scheduled to launch its own version of Mitsubishi’s MiEV electric-car.

– By: Stephen Calogera