Reuters reported Thursday morning, citing unnamed sources, that Chinese electric automaker, Nio (NYSE:NIO) has held exploratory talks with Mercedes-Benz (ETR:MBGn) for a potential agreement that would see the German luxury carmaker invest in Nio in exchange for technology.
According to the sources, Nio CEO, William Li, spoke earlier this year with Mercedes CEO, Ola Kaellenius, exploring the possibility of a collaboration. In these talks, Nio proposed that Mercedes make an investment in exchange for access to Nio's research and development expertise.
One of the insiders revealed that Nio initiated the talks with Mercedes. However, there is apparently internal resistance within the German company, which has been deliberating the proposal in recent weeks. It is increasingly likely that the collaboration will not move forward.
Nio has denied the talks, calling them "untrue", without elaborating. Mercedes has also denied the rumors, saying that there were no collaboration plans with Nio.
Shares of NIO are up 0.89% in premarket trading Thursday morning.