Daimler/BMW mobility joint venture delayed to 2019

The joint mobility company announced in March by BMW Group and Daimler will be established only in 2019, Daimler has revealed. 

Having been approved by the EU Commission, the project now still needs the green light from the US antitrust authorities. The slow pace of the approval process has pushed back the projected launch from this year to the beginning of the next.

The delay will have a significant positive effect on the valuation and earnings for Daimler Financial Services in 2019 – and a slightly negative one on Daimler FS’s results for fiscal 2018. 

Daimler FS now forecasts a significantly lower Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT) than in 2017. The EBIT forecast for the overall Daimler Group in 2018 remains unchanged, however. As announced, the establishment of the joint venture will not have any cash-flow impact on the industrial business.

The Daimler/BMW joint venture aims to combine the mobility services of both OEMs in the fields of car-sharing, ride-hailing, parking, charging and multimodality – creating a world-leading provider of innovative mobility services.

In late September, Daimler and BMW Group announced that they would headquarter their mobility joint venture in Berlin – in the capital of their common home market, but away from either group’s own HQ, in Munich (BMW) and Stuttgart (Daimler).   

Image: Daimler