"We're not talking about the distant future," a BMW spokesman, Daniel Kammerer, said.

Frank Schlöder, a BMW spokesman in Munich, has a different view.

The BMW spokesman said exclusive negotiations with Alchemy were expected to end soon.

William Scully, a BMW spokesman, pointed out that listeners didn't necessarily have to choose between satellite and HD Radio.

Robert Hitt, a BMW spokesman, said the company required that suppliers be within a two-hour drive from here.

"Rover will remain a purely British company," a BMW spokesman said.

"It's always good to separate the steering from the wheels that put the power on the street," Wieland Bruch, a BMW spokesman, said.

Today, by contrast, Werner Rothfuss, a BMW spokesman in Munich, said there was "every possibility" of negotiations with Phoenix.

"It happened overnight," said Mr. Rothfuss, the BMW spokesman.

A similar fault was identified in 2008, but a BMW spokesman accepted modifications to the brake fluid lines had failed to eradicate problems.