BMW Has No Plans to Collaborate with Tesla

Tesla CEO Elon Musk whipped up some rumors about a possible partnership with BMW last week, and now the German automaker is putting them to bed.

In conversation with German magazine Wirtschafts Woche, BMW executives said that the Munich-based carmaker has no plans for a partnership with Tesla and no plans to buy Tesla stock. Furthermore, BMW is asserting that “Musk [is] using us for PR purposes,” suggesting that the American automaker is only dropping the BMW name to curry favor, especially because Tesla’s partnerships with Daimler and Toyota recently ended.

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Musk specifically expressed his interest in BMW’s new carbon fiber production processes, suggesting that could be another area outside of battery technology where the companies could join together. BMW says that Tesla is welcome to purchase the lightweight material from them, a service that will be provided “for Tesla as for any other automaker.”

At the time of Musk’s initial comments, a Tesla spokeswoman did say that the talks were strictly “casual,” so it’s  e a total surprise that these two will not join together. BMW recently announced that nearly every single one of its models will be getting a plug-in hybrid powertrain, so the German automaker is actually gearing up to compete more directly with Tesla than ever before.

[Source: Wirtschafts Woche]

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