The development comes in the wake of Geely, BAIC’s rival, seeking to tap Daimler’s technologies in the area of self-driving technology, battery technology and automated, autonomous vehicles.

On Thursday, Stuttgart, Germany, headquartered Daimler AG stated it would deepen its collaboration with China’s BAIC Group in the area of new energy vehicles.

Daimler stated it has acquired a 3.93% stake in Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., a subsidiary of BAIC Group.

“The investment in BJEV marks yet another milestone in the strong cooperation between Daimler and BAIC for New Energy Vehicles in China, and it underlines our commitment to the further development of electric mobility,” said Hubertus Troska, Daimler’s board member responsible for China.

“BAIC Group and Daimler have long maintained a deep, strategic partnership. New Energy Vehicles are one of BAIC Group’s core business areas, and Daimler’s investment in BJEV further expands our partnership, taking the cooperation between BAIC and Daimler into an entirely new stage of development,” said Xu Heyi, Chairman of BAIC Group, in a statement.

Last month, Li Shufu, Geely’s chairman disclosed that he had built up an almost 10% stake in Daimler with the aim of forcing the German company to hand over it technology vis-a-vis electric and self-driving vehicles.