Germany’s Daimler is examining the joint production of small luxury vehicles with Japan’s Nissan at a Nissan plant in Mexico, and expects a decision by the end of the year, a group board member told a German newspaper.
“This would be an option, if our compact cars business in North America performs well,” Andreas Renschler, who is also head of production for Mercedes, was quoted as saying in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published on Saturday.
Daimler plans to start selling a self-driving car by 2020 to help its Mercedes-Benz brand regain the top spot among premium carmakers, development chief Thomas Weber said.
Daimler has described as “inappropriate” a spoof advertisement that shows a Mercedes-Benz C-class sedan running over a young Adolf Hitler.
The 80-second video clip was created by students at Germany’s Ludwigsburg film academy.
Toyota said it has switched back to using the air conditioner refrigerant R134a for some Toyota and Lexus models in Europe in response to public pressure in Germany.
Daimler says its car-sharing program is already profitable in multiple cities and BMW expects its scheme to start making money this year.
