The Chinese group BAIC Motor is in talks with Daimler about taking a stake in the German carmaker, Daimler’s chief executive said on Thursday.

德国车企戴姆勒(Daimler)首席执行官蔡澈(Dieter Zetsche)周四表示，中国的北京汽车股份有限公司(BAIC Motor)正在与戴姆勒谈判，打算入股后者。

Dieter Zetsche said in an interview with Reuters that any stake would have to be structured in such a way as to avoid diluting the interests of existing Daimler shareholders.

蔡澈在接受路透社(Reuters)采访时表示，入股方式须避免稀释戴姆勒现有股东的权益。

But he added that while the duo were looking at “possible mechanisms” to do this, whether or not “concrete steps” followed the negotiations depended on BAIC.

但他补充称，尽管双方正在研究实现这点的“可能机制”，但这场谈判是否会得出“具体措施”取决于北汽股份。

Daimler already has close ties with the Chinese car industry. It has a 10 per cent stake in BAIC, the listed arm of Beijing Automotive Group, as well as a joint venture with BAIC to sell Mercedes-Benz cars in the country.

戴姆勒早已与中国汽车业建立了紧密的联系。它持有北汽股份10%的股份，并与后者组建了一家合资公司，在中国市场销售梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)汽车。北汽股份是北汽集团(Beijing Automotive Group)的上市子公司。

Mr Zetsche reiterated on Thursday that Daimler had “said from the start” that its stake in BAIC, which it took in 2013, could one day lead to a cross-shareholding.

蔡澈周四重申，戴姆勒“从一开始就表示”，它2013年入股北汽股份可能有朝一日会导致两家公司交叉持股。

Xu Heyi, BAIC chairman, said at the time that the two companies “will never be able to live apart from each other”, as Daimler opened its first fully fledged engine factory outside Germany.

当戴姆勒开设其在德国之外首家成熟的发动机工厂时，北汽集团董事长徐和谊表示，这两家公司从此将谁也离不开谁。

Daimler’s largest shareholders are the Kuwait Investment Authority, which has a 6.8 per cent stake, and Renault-Nissan, with which the German company has a cross-shareholding agreement.

戴姆勒的最大股东是持股6.8%的科威特投资局(KIA)、以及雷诺-日产(Renault-Nissan)，戴姆勒与雷诺-日产之间有交叉持股协议。

In the past the German car group has issued new shares to allow big investors — such as Abu Dhabi’s Aabar Investments — to buy into the company.

过去，戴姆勒曾发行新股、以使一些大型投资者——比如阿布扎比的阿巴尔投资公司(Aabar Investments)——能够入股该公司。