Daimler, BMW, and Audi having difficulties reaching an agreement with Nokia

“Talks have not broken down, but they are at a delicate stage of brinkmanship”, said one of Reuters’ sources. Apparently the trio isn’t as pressured as before to buy now that reports indicate Uber is no longer interested in buying the software which is evaluated by analysts at anywhere between €2 to €4 billion.

A group of three German carmakers, which emerged as the leading bidder for mapping business HERE, are in a standoff with owner Nokia, said Reuters.

BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen are all customers of HERE’s maps.

Some parties have subsequently pulled out and the makeup of the different consortia remains in flux.

The auto makers are loathe to see HERE fall into the hands of rival technology firms.

They can’t let Nokia’s maps business to be acquired by a rival technology company, since it could affect their access to high-definition maps, thus slowing their ability to expand in the area of connected cars.

A consortium of German carmakers may be the only serious contender left in the contest to acquire Nokia’s Here mapping unit.

German vehicle makers feel less stress to pay for a large costs to actually seal HERE, amid symptoms which typically challenge buyers namely Uber, the Silicon Valley-based cab-hailing provider, have fallen out of one’s chase, possibly one of the personal financial sources said.

However, the private equity firm could join the German vehicle makers group at a later stage if the need arises, as a “neutral referee” with other potential partners.

Apax and Baidu declined to comment. The reason is simple and has something to do with the fact that Uber has just acquired some of Microsoft’s Bing assets and absorbed 100 engineers.

NavInfo, which linked up with the Tencent group, in late June said it was not making an offer.