Mercedes Benz And Infiniti Agree To Share Platforms And Engineers

Badgewhore2 - Lexus/Toyota is pretty secretive. As far as I can see they don't really believe in partnerships unless it it provides them with a leg up on the mainstream market. Obviously they see an advantage with Tesla and hybrids, but in general they will place that technology on an apple cart with wheels. I guess you have to remember that their approach to luxury doesn't typically include superior dynamics as Infiniti does.

You're right badgewhore, that's how they made a weaved carbon fiber monocoque car with an engine that weighs as little as a v6 still weigh a few hundred pounds more then a 7.0L Corvette :) It's a good thing they got Yamaha to develop their engine!

Continuing CarreraGT's idea, what did Toyota do to get the fastest electric ring time? Buy a Radical and source some electric motors/batteries.

Oh so funny!

Maxima-Benz = very interesting possibility...

what about a BMW-Honda or Toyota-VW mashup...

A BMW + Honda collaboration could be very interesting, say in a limited production hypersupercar . . . ?

Just saying, think about it, Honda/Mugen has that empty production line they used to produce the NSX.

009- the most superior all of dynamics is that it doesn't break down!!! Lets leave the political corectness at the door! MBs have horrible electronics and have huge maintenance costs! And while Infinity will out last one, they don't have the market appeal. That would be the only thing they have to gain from this. I don't buy that they need a small fwd platform. They have plenty of those from Nissan and Renault! They need the marketability and the cash!
Lexus is a superior product and the most important of all things to me is that it doesn't break down! I don't live on a race track and all those that complain about how bland Toyotas and Lexus are must live on one! Absolutely ridiculous to say they don't handle well or perform well! That is the best thing they offer and why they've outsold every one else for a lot of years!

Cars "breaking down these days" is extremely rare.

I have a Mercedes from 2006 and I have no horrible electronics. In fact I have never had any problems with this car. None.

I cannot remember any tech goodies that Toyota/lexus pioneered that is useful.Self park is for the loser who cannot drive.If you cannot park you should not be driving.

Wrong move Renault-Nissan! There are better ways of getting your hands on Sebastian Vettel Mercedes.

Dear Mr. Gosen,

Have you heard about the Daimler-Chrysler collaboration?

Is the only thing Daimler looking for is cheaper production on the platform?

The stupidity of some comments here is mindblowing. And the fact that the stupid, fairy-tale-world comments are being boosted is either an indication of the growing stupidity of the human race or multiple fake accounts. I hope it's the latter.

Mercedes and Infiniti don't really compete in the sense that Mercedes makes comfortable and good-handling cars and Infiniti focuses on driving dynamics for the most part. Infiniti is more of a BMW rival than Mercedes' rival. Only the consumer who cares about luxury and not the drive may cross-shop a Mercedes with an Infiniti. The enthusiast consumer who wants comfort and status goes to Mercedes and the enthusiast who wants sport and driving dynamics goes to Infiniti. It's that simple.

And Renault supplying both companies with excellent FWD platforms makes sense. Renault has more experience with FWD cars than Nissan and certainly more than Merceces. Renault has the production facilities to focus on, develop and build FWD platforms en masse - unlike Mercedes or Infiniti which are predominantly focused on RWD cars. For their new entry-level cars, FWD makes sense. And smaller engines. What better partner than Renault?

Forget all that crap you hear about Renaults being unreliable. The Renaults sold in the United States were built by AMC and their workforce was unmotivated and indifferent to the cars. This was a time of economic turmoil and uncertain futures and the last thing on the minds of these workers was building the cars to certain quality standards. The Renaults of today are well-engineered, safe and well-designed cars with advanced technology.

This alliance helps everyone involved. Infiniti and Mercedes can effectively build their smaller FWD cars on Renault platforms and perhaps with Renault engines. Infiniti and Mercedes will share technology (especially in the diesel/hybrid department I expect). Hell, we could speculate all day but everyone benefits in the end from this deal.