Even on the pure consumer level the announcement about BMW joining a consortium to develop hybrid drive systems that was started by DaimlerChrysler and GM is pretty big news.
But when you peel back the protective layer of press releases and public posturing, it's even bigger.
Before we get into that, however, a few words on the consumer level.
Above all else, this decision by the Munich-based firm to join the world's first and fifth biggest (by sales volume) car companies in a joint development effort for a hybrid propulsion system removes all doubt that hybrid power is as much about performance as it is about fuel economy.
GM and DCX underscored the performance theme clear when they announced their official agreement a couple of weeks, but both firms market vehicles that are largely about fuel economy so the point may have been dulled. That is not true of BMW. Sure, BMW and its customers wouldn't mind saving some money on gas, but not if it harmed the vehicles' performance abilities in any way.
If you're thinking that a hybrid BMW will drive the same as a hybrid Mercedes or a hybrid GMC Yukon or a hybrid Dodge Durango or whatever, you would be wrong. The companies will develop and share the technology, but they will apply it differently to their own products to keep their brand identity.
Burkhard Göschel, the board of management member for development and procurement at BMW AG made that point in the group press release: "Because the technologies will be adapted to the individual vehicle models, the participating brands will retain their distinctive characters."
The other consumer issue of significance may not be so obvious, since the reality of hybrids does not seem to be so obvious to consumers. There seems to be a widely held notion by consumers that a hybrid is a hybrid is a hybrid and that they're interchangeable.
Sure, the premise of automotive hybrids is common -- the use of an electric motor in concert with an internal-combustion engine -- but there any number of ways to make it work.
This will be critically important when the time comes to service the hybrid system in your vehicle, since it means the number of places who can help you could be limited. It will probably mean that only a Toyota dealer can service Prius and only a Honda store can service Civic, but that all BMW, DCX and GM dealers can service all their models. This will probably happen (there's a slight possibility it won't), so it should be kept in mind when you're considering a hybrid.
On the business side of the issue, this decision is all about money and that says a great deal about the current climate in the auto industry. Not so many years ago, every one of these three firms would have gone alone and developed its own hybrid propulsion system.
But now they can't afford to spend the time and money to create their own technologies, so they're forming alliances on something as fundamental as propulsion systems.
Specifically, the GM, DaimlerChrysler and BMW Hybrid Development Center in Troy, Michigan, "will develop the overall modular system and the individual components: electric motors, high-performance electronics, wiring, safety systems, energy management, and hybrid system control units. In addition, the Hybrid Development Center will be responsible for system integration and project management."
But when you peel back the protective layer of press releases and public posturing, it's even bigger.
Before we get into that, however, a few words on the consumer level.
Above all else, this decision by the Munich-based firm to join the world's first and fifth biggest (by sales volume) car companies in a joint development effort for a hybrid propulsion system removes all doubt that hybrid power is as much about performance as it is about fuel economy.
GM and DCX underscored the performance theme clear when they announced their official agreement a couple of weeks, but both firms market vehicles that are largely about fuel economy so the point may have been dulled. That is not true of BMW. Sure, BMW and its customers wouldn't mind saving some money on gas, but not if it harmed the vehicles' performance abilities in any way.
If you're thinking that a hybrid BMW will drive the same as a hybrid Mercedes or a hybrid GMC Yukon or a hybrid Dodge Durango or whatever, you would be wrong. The companies will develop and share the technology, but they will apply it differently to their own products to keep their brand identity.
Burkhard Göschel, the board of management member for development and procurement at BMW AG made that point in the group press release: "Because the technologies will be adapted to the individual vehicle models, the participating brands will retain their distinctive characters."
The other consumer issue of significance may not be so obvious, since the reality of hybrids does not seem to be so obvious to consumers. There seems to be a widely held notion by consumers that a hybrid is a hybrid is a hybrid and that they're interchangeable.
Sure, the premise of automotive hybrids is common -- the use of an electric motor in concert with an internal-combustion engine -- but there any number of ways to make it work.
This will be critically important when the time comes to service the hybrid system in your vehicle, since it means the number of places who can help you could be limited. It will probably mean that only a Toyota dealer can service Prius and only a Honda store can service Civic, but that all BMW, DCX and GM dealers can service all their models. This will probably happen (there's a slight possibility it won't), so it should be kept in mind when you're considering a hybrid.
On the business side of the issue, this decision is all about money and that says a great deal about the current climate in the auto industry. Not so many years ago, every one of these three firms would have gone alone and developed its own hybrid propulsion system.
But now they can't afford to spend the time and money to create their own technologies, so they're forming alliances on something as fundamental as propulsion systems.
Specifically, the GM, DaimlerChrysler and BMW Hybrid Development Center in Troy, Michigan, "will develop the overall modular system and the individual components: electric motors, high-performance electronics, wiring, safety systems, energy management, and hybrid system control units. In addition, the Hybrid Development Center will be responsible for system integration and project management."