"The
investments that are needed and whether every company has the
resources ... remains to be seen," Krueger told journalists at
the Geneva motor show.
"For everybody the challenge is huge, with the focus on
electro-mobility, digitalization and autonomous driving," he
said.
"We are large enough that we can fund our future investment
needs on our own," Krueger said, adding smaller companies may
need to find new partners, a step that could lead to more deals.
But takeovers and mergers are difficult to pull off, he said.
"The backbone of a successful cooperation is creating a real
win-win for both companies. It needs to happen within a
reasonable time-frame. It will not work when one party profits
from the deal after two years, and the other only after eight
years."
BMW's engineers in Munich are working on a new electric Mini
which could be built in Germany, the Netherlands or the United
Kingdom in the wake of Britain's exit from the European Union,
Krueger said.
"It can be produced in several locations because of the vehicle
architecture," Krueger said at a roundtable discussion at the
Geneva show.
BMW is looking at Oxford in England, Born, the Netherlands and
Leipzig and Regensburg in Germany as potential production
locations, he said, adding a decision would be taken this year.
(Reporting by Edward Taylor; Editing by Victoria Bryan and Mark
Potter)
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