Carmakers in Talks on Combining Purchasing, FT Deutschland Says

Carmakers and suppliers are in talks about combined purchasing for some scarce raw materials in an effort to secure supply, Financial Times Deutschland said, citing Thomas Weber, head of development at Daimler AG. (DAI)

Talks are at an early stage and there is no set schedule or details of what form the cooperation would take, Weber said, according to the German newspaper. There are shortages of some rare earth materials used in the making of hybrid and electric vehicles after China limited exports, the newspaper said.

Purchasing cooperation may also be attractive to an industrial company such as Siemens AG (SIE), which needs rare earth materials for high-performance magnets used in generators, the newspaper said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sheenagh Matthews in Frankfurt at smatthews6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net