Cooperation between Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz to materialize by end of year

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai August 10) - Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz China's will be putting their recently signed agreement to jointly cooperate into practice by the end of the year, 21cbh.com reported today. The two companies will begin preparatory work for domestic manufacture of the GLK SUV as the first step of their partnership. Ulrich Walker, chairman and CEO of Daimler's Northeast Asia operations, and Xu Heyi, head of BAIC, has been involved in the process from the smart.

According to media reports, negotiations on opening a jointly-owned sales company have currently reached the detailed planning stage. The negotiations are reportedly being conducted on the principle of 'which side benefits most should be most responsible'. 

Beijing Benz and Mercedes-Benz China are Daimler's two sales avenues to China. Due to independent and often contradictory policies, as well as decisions to favor expensive imports over beginning domestic production, Daimler has taken steps to fix the relationship between the two companies so as to better serve the manufacturer as a whole. Mercedes vehicles have been seeing mounting pressure from rival luxury brands BMW and Audi.