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Originally Posted by Fraggy
The only winner I see in this deal is Toyota. They are already too large of a car maker and helping them grow larger is in nobody's best interest. I don't see that BMW really has anything to gain here.
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The folks at BMW aren't retards. I'm sure the Munich folks have carefully considered all the pros and cons of any collaboration with Toyota before agreeing to this move. As a for-profit venture, BMW isn't simply going to give away diesel engines for free to Toyota without any kind of substantial benefit in return.
I'm more concerned with how long this joint-venture can last. BMW and Toyota have quite different corporate cultures and this is often a big stumbling block. Volkswagen and Suzuki had an agreement for example, one that is falling apart as we speak. I think Honda would have made a better partner. Since Honda has an entreprenuerial spirit focusing on innovation and advanced technology, something which BMW also aspires for. Whereas Toyota has always been more bureaucratic and stuffy, those things are not well suited to the sort of horizontal management that BMW practices.
Still, Toyota's newly unveiled motto is to make their cars "fun to drive" again, and if they are serious about that, then they can certainly learn a thing or two from BMW in that department. And BMW can also learn how to make their cars more reliable from Toyota through their quality inspection methods.