BMW and Fiat yesterday both moved quickly to deny German media reports that claimed the co-operation talks centering around sharing components and technology that begun last summer had come to an inconclusive end.

According to the Reuters a BMW spokesman told the news agency yesterday that talks "were more complex than expected, but were continuing. He did not provide details." A spokesman for Fiat also confirmed to Reuters that "the talks were still ongoing". Yesterday's edition of German daily newspaper Handelsblatt had reported that the talks had ended in 'failure'.

The talks original centred around co-operation on platform and component sharing between BMW's MINI brand and Fiat's Alfa Romeo unit. BMW is looking for a partner to help it develop the next-generation MINI, and has also discussed the project with Mercedes-Benz which will need a partner soon when it replaces its A-class. BMW was also poised to assist Alfa Romeo with its stateside re-launch by selling the Alfa MiTo through selected MINI outlets. However firstly the postponement of the Alfa Romeo re-launch due to the economic downturn in North America and then the potential partnership with Chrysler LLC means that BMW's help may not fit into the picture anymore.

This means that the brief of the talks has varied since they got underway last July and the discussions are further complicated by the interests of the German government which is expected to expected to exert influence over BMW if the Bavarian carmaker goes cap-in-hand for bail out funding. BMW, in particular, has been badly affected by the slowdown in car sales.