Mercedes in talks with Infiniti over SUV joint venture Mercedes-Benz continues its forward march Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti are in talks to start jointly developing a second shared vehicle platform, to be used to build larger sedans and SUVs. The two premium brands, which already have an agreement to work together on a smaller platform for compact cars, would spin off their own individual models from the potential new platform, said Johan de Nysschen, Infiniti chief executive. "We are discussing right now and examining the potential of extending that into a second vehicle project," Mr de Nysschen told the Financial Times. We are looking at a versatile platform for larger vehicles, both rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive that could form the basis for sedans and SUVs. Germany's Daimler, which owns Mercedes, and Japan's Nissan, which owns Infiniti, have formed a global alliance that shares designs, products, engines and factories between the companies. Infiniti, which has for most of its 24-year history been a US-focused entry-level luxury brand, has been given executive independence and heavy financial backing by Nissan in the past few years in an attempt to move up the value chain and gain a slice of the lucrative global premium market. Mr de Nysschen, a former Audi executive, has carefully cultivated the relationship with Daimler as a way to develop world class products faster and less expensively, as he targets global sales of 500,000 cars by 2020, more than three times what the company sold last year, and a double-digit operating profit margin. Technology sharing and joint development are becoming more common in the global car industry as manufacturers look to spread the high costs of designing and producing new platforms and products. Toyota and BMW, close rivals of Nissan and Mercedes, have agreed on a joint architecture that could be used to build a shared sports car model. Audi, the third member of the luxury car industry's German "Big Three," shares product platforms with fellow Volkswagen brand VW. "If both companies want to develop a car, there's a certain cost of entry associated with that," said Mr de Nysschen in an interview at the Detroit motor show. If we split the cost 50-50, we've just got ourselves a 50 per cent discount. "We can then leverage that," he said. Joint purchasing of components that are common and . . . even joint manufacturing. Infiniti is attempting to beat fellow Asian luxury brands such as Toyota's Lexus, Honda's Acura and Hyundai's Genesis in making it into the top tier of the $350bn premium car market, which accounts for 11 per cent of all car sales but more than half of the industry's profit.