BMW and GM May Join Forces to Tackle Fuel Efficiency

When I was still teaching high school, running the yearbook was one of the many responsibilities, and it wasn't an easy task.  Believe it or not, in this day and age it costs about $30,000 to put together a 180-page full color high school book, and raising that money is no easy chore.  Sometimes, you've just to seek out help, which is what I did when I convinced the adviser of our rival high school to join forces with me in tackling the awful responsibility of selling yearbooks.

Technically, we were supposed to be arch-nemeses, and we were working on the same task, but at the end of the day we didn't step on each others' toes because we weren't selling things to the same consumer base.  But we could still join forces, right?  Right. 

It's no different with BMW and GM, who it's been speculated are close to starting a partnership of their own in order to manufacture more fuel efficient vehicles.  BMW has always been among the industry leaders in fuel efficiency when it comes to diesel and advanced gasoline, but GM has traditionally done better with fuel cell and series hybrid technologies.  Since the two companies peddle their wares to entirely different customers, what could such a partnership hurt? 

Nothing.  It would hurt absolutely nothing.  But it could potentially help, and that's why these two automotive powerhouses are discussing working together on some future fuel-efficient projects.

As Lakeland car dealers will tell you, BMW has lent engines to other automakers in the past, as long as they felt fairly confident that it wouldn't sully their luxurious name.  GM's reputation is good enough that such a thing wouldn't harm BMW, and the information they got back in return could be more than worth the risk.

Earlier this year, Toyota and Ford announced a similar partnership for improving fuel efficiency in their trucks and SUVs, so it's not like the idea is completely radical.  It's already working in one instance, and could easily work again in this case with even less crossover on potential customer base.  It's not a $30,000 yearbook, that's for sure.  These financial implications are way, way, way more important, so hopefully this is a joint effort that pays off.