BMW and PSA Peugeot-Citroen Corporation will develop hybrids together

BMW will expand its collaboration with PSA in a joint venture called BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification. The announcement was made at the Geneva Motor Show, and the two sides will invest 100 million euros in their new joint venture.

Production will be held in Mulhouse, France, while research and development work will take place in an area of Munich, Germany. By the end of 2011, the new joint venture will have about 400 employees, most of whom will work on research and development.

The first products of the new company will hit the market in the second quarter of 2011, and components developed by them will enter series production of the four brands which this joinventure serves starting with 2014.

All the 400 employees of the new joint venture will operate in Germany, while 250 production employees will be hired when the French plant will need them.

The workforce of the new joint venture and its employees will be taken largely from the companies that have signed this partnership.

BMW Peugeot Citroen Electrification plan involves employing only 100 people from the outside, but this will take place only after the joint venture will become operational.

BMW has been cooperating with the PSA Peugeot-Citroen concern for nearly 10 years. In 2002, both partners decided to jointly design and build four-cylinder engines.

Between 2006 and 2010, over 1.8 million engines were built for Mini, Peugeot and Citroen. In February 2010, the two companies decided to jointly develop next-generation four-cylinder engines that will comply with Euro 6.

Via | JustAuto (înreg.)