Rumors that Tesla will collaborate with BMW Group to design a new electric vehicle have been circulating online for months now, but unfortunately for luxury EV enthusiasts, it doesn’t appear the two automakers are going to come to a deal any time soon.
Both companies didn’t immediately return the Daily Dot’s requests for comment on the rumors. But BMW’s long been more focused on competing with Tesla than cooperating with it.
The new BMW i4 Gran Coupe all-electric vehicle is launching soon, and it’s unlikely that the company would pivot from its ambitions to build out its own line of electric cars just to help a rival firm profit.
And even though Tesla opened its network of chargers to other EVs last November, a conglomerate of well-established automakers, including BMW, General Motors, Hyundai, and Mercedes-Benz said this July they’d work together to create their own charging infrastructure of some 30,000 fast-charging plugs nationwide. Comparatively, Tesla operates at least 50,000 Superchargers globally.
Although these two companies remain adversaries in business, some people are still holding out hope they’ll team up. It’s not the first time: In 2014, it was reported that BMW would collaborate with Tesla to make lightweight EV batteries or expand charging stations, but the deal never materialized.
Where did Tesla-BMW collab rumors come from?
Most recently, a false claim that BMW and Tesla would partner up to sell a new EV circulated online earlier this year.
It cropped up in a few places: first in a now-deleted post from an X account not affiliated with either company. That post claimed Tesla and BMW would work together to make a new EV that could be “an alternative to the likes of the Volkswagen ID.3 and MG4.”
The so-called upcoming vehicle would be “a car that changes everything,” the post reportedly said, adding that it would cost “half as much” as Tesla’s Model 3 or Model Y.
A similar claim was echoed on several unofficial Tesla YouTube channels, which posted videos of CEO Elon Musk giving interviews… but not talking about BMW. In one case, a video titled “LIVE: Unveiling Tesla & BMW Collaboration Model – A car that changes everything – CEO Interview,” was just a repost of Musk’s interview with reporter Kara Swisher at last year’s Recode conference.
Last April, BMW’s sales chief Pieter Nota said he thought Tesla’s time as the dominant EV seller in America was “over,” and added BMW had plans to double the number of EVs it delivered each year.
Tesla still repeatedly outsells BMW’s electric vehicles.
In both 2022 and 2023, there were vastly more registrations of new Teslas than any other U.S. luxury automaker for the first time, according to Automotive News. Tesla’s new registrations grew 41% annually in 2022, while BMW’s were down 5.3% in the same time period.
So, maybe, just maybe, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em? Probably not, though.
