Daimler, BMW to combine mobility units in bid for global reach

Khodrocar - "We want to grow significantly and we are in a position to handle large acquisitions," Uebber said.

The two leading German luxury carmakers, two of the fiercest rivals in the auto industry, unveiled plans on Wednesday to combine their businesses in new services such as car-sharing and electric vehicle charging to compete with Uber in the United States and Didi Chuxing in China.

"We think putting all our assets together in this will make us a leading player in the mobility area,” said Peter Schwarzenbauer, member of BMW’s board of management responsible for digital business innovation and other business areas. "And this is really the target. It’s not to do a little bit here, a little bit there. We want to become the leading provider when it comes to mobility services.”

The deal means brands such as Daimler’s Car2Go and BMW’s DriveNow will work in tandem instead of in opposition once the deal is finalized. Regulators in both Europe and the U.S. must approve the agreement, and that could take several weeks to several months, Schwarzenbauer told reporters at the New York auto show. No financial terms were disclosed.

BMW and Daimler will each hold half of a new joint venture company, which Daimler's Uebber said was likely to be headquartered in Germany.

Uebber said that Daimler and BMW's financial strength could help the venture fund takeovers but said they were also open to adding new partners.

The idea of listing the new company is currently not in focus, Uebber said, adding the main priority now is to close the deal.