Peugeot Says Cooperation With BMW on Hybrid Cars Will End

PSA Peugeot Citroen (UG), Europe’s second-biggest carmaker, said it will end cooperation with Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) in hybrid-vehicle research while developing an alliance with General Motors Co. (GM)

Peugeot and Munich-based BMW won’t produce the vehicles jointly or set up any plants together for the models, Agence France-Presse newswire cited Guillaume Faury, Peugeot’s head of research and development, as saying. Laure de Servigny, a spokeswoman for Paris-based Peugeot, confirmed the comments.

BMW, the world’s biggest luxury-car maker, said in July that it intended to continue hybrid-vehicle research on its own as it was holding talks with Peugeot about breaking up the partnership following GM’s establishment of ties with the French company in February. Peugeot said in March that it didn’t expect the GM partnership to affect joint work with other carmakers, including BMW. The French company said in June that it was looking at future of the BMW project.

Operations of the BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification partnership, established in October to develop, purchase and produce electric powertrains and components, would be retained by BMW, the German carmaker said in July.

“No decisions have been currently made on how the joint venture will be shaped in the future,” Frank Wienstroth, a BMW spokesman, said today.

Decline Eases

Peugeot was trading down 0.1 percent at 6.49 euros at 4:39 p.m. in Paris, paring a drop of as much as 2.4 percent earlier today. BMW shares fell 0.3 percent to 59.62 euros in Frankfurt.

The French company’s partnership with GM includes the Detroit-based carmaker’s purchase of a 7 percent stake in Peugeot. The manufacturers may also cooperate on hybrid models, de Servigny said today.

BMW signed a memorandum of understanding on June 29 with Toyota Motor Corp. (7203), the maker of the Prius hybrid car, to collaborate on the development of fuel cells, lightweight materials and electric powertrains.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mathieu Rosemain in Paris at mrosemain@bloomberg.net; Dorothee Tschampa in Frankfurt at dtschampa@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net