In this consumer driven age, even arch rivals have to forge partnerships to maximize profits. That’s what seems to be on the mind of German luxury car maker Daimler and its French rival Renault. According to Financial Times, both the companies are considering taking minor equity stakes in each other to create a long-term cooperation.

According to unidentified sources, the potential alliance aims to build a relationship that goes beyond the already proceeding talks about cooperation in the small cars business. Individually, both the corporations are stock market giants with Daimler worth € 37 billion ($50.6 billion) and Renault pegged at € 9.7 billion. However, both the companies will limit the stakes in each other to below 10 percent.

FT further mentioned that these discussions have been long-running and are still proceeding. We reported this news a month ago, when Renault confirmed having discussions with many manufacturers including Daimler about a strategic relationship to lower costs in specific areas such as transmission platforms, engines and research.