Daimler

Now that Chrysler is no longer a part of the company, what is the situation for Daimler AG and its shares? - R.M., via the Internet The German automaker is giving the general impression that a house guest has finally left after an extended visit. Relieved to bid goodbye to all but 19.9 percent of money-losing Chrysler, Daimler has said it expects to return to double-digit operating margins by 2010 at the latest. Top boss Dieter Zetsche - known in the United States as the star of Chrysler's "Dr. Z" car commercials - said the new Daimler "starts on a very solid and healthy basis."

What's fashionable, as cool as an iPhone but just a tad bigger? In this case, an impossibly tiny vehicle called the Smart Fortwo that isn't even for sale in the United States until January, but its manufacturer says its limited production is sold out through much of 2008. A bubble-shaped two-seater, at 106 inches the Smart is more than three feet shorter than a Mini Cooper, and less than half the length of a Chevrolet Suburban. The Fortwo, following in the tracks of automotive icons such as the Toyota Prius and Mazda Miata, has developed the kind of buzz marketers dream about, managing to squeeze into its pint-sized cockpit several sales-friendly attributes: It sips gas, it's inexpensive and it has loads of personality.

NEW YORK -- Corporations issuing new stock, take note.Daimler-Benz AG seems to have hit upon a sure-fire way to capture Wall Street's attention: Close the street in front of the New York Stock Exchange, truck in samples of your company's products -- in Daimler's case, a helicopter, a fire engine, luxury cars and an assortment of other hulking machinery -- and turn the block into a giant showroom.That was the scene yesterday in lower Manhattan as Daimler celebrated becoming the first German company to be listed on the Big Board.

Now that Chrysler is no longer a part of the company, what is the situation for Daimler AG and its shares? - R.M., via the Internet The German automaker is giving the general impression that a house guest has finally left after an extended visit. Relieved to bid goodbye to all but 19.9 percent of money-losing Chrysler, Daimler has said it expects to return to double-digit operating margins by 2010 at the latest. Top boss Dieter Zetsche - known in the United States as the star of Chrysler's "Dr. Z" car commercials - said the new Daimler "starts on a very solid and healthy basis."

WILMINGTON, Del. - A Daimler-Benz AG executive's notes written three months before the company combined with Chrysler Corp. describe a takeover rather than a merger, according to documents released last month in a federal court in Delaware. The notes, from strategy chief Ruediger Grube, conflict with the public statements of executives in later months and may support assertions in a lawsuit by billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian and other shareholders seeking up to $15 billion from DaimlerChrysler AG. They say chief executive Juergen Schrempp and other executives gained control and avoided paying a takeover premium by calling the 1998 transaction a merger of equals.

STUTTGART, Germany -- DaimlerChrysler AG shares will begin trading Nov. 17, the day Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp. start operating as a single German company, as Daimler-Benz works to complete its $36 billion takeover of the No. 3 U.S. automaker.Daimler-Benz said about 98 percent of shareholders have voluntarily swapped their shares for DaimlerChrysler stock, ensuring that the acquisition will go ahead and enabling the new company to use favorable "pooling of interest" accounting.The deadline to swap shares was Friday, including a grace period of 10 working days mandated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

TOKYO -- Daimler-Benz AG, a week after agreeing to buy Chrysler Corp., said yesterday that it is in talks with Nissan Diesel Motor Co. about an alliance that could include taking a stake in Japan's fourth largest truck maker.Daimler spokesman Roland Klein said the automaker has been in talks with Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., which owns 39.8 percent of Nissan Diesel, for several months. He declined to comment on Japanese newspaper reports that allege Daimler will take a controlling stake of at least 33.4 percent in Nissan Diesel.

DETROIT -- After a tremendous run-up, shares of DaimlerChrysler AG may have peaked yesterday, as traders appear to have decided that selling Chrysler was fun, but now it's time to cash out and sell those shares. Just three months ago, on Feb. 13, the day before DaimlerChrysler AG first hinted the Chrysler Group might be sold, the stock opened at $63.94. Now that a deal has been announced for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management to acquire Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler's shares are going for more than $86 - a 34 percent increase in just three months.

LONDON -- Seeking time to avert collapse, Fokker N.V., the Dutch aircraft maker, said last night that its main subsidiaries have been granted one month's protection from creditors after the cutoff of financial support from Daimler-Benz A.G., its German benefactor.The decision appeared to be little more than a stopgap measure after the announcement Monday by Daimler-Benz, which holds a controlling stake in Fokker, that it was effectively abandoning Fokker after years of heavy losses.Analysts said that Fokker's only realistic strategy now is to find buyers for its aircraft-building and other aerospace activities, and that its ability to attract a buyer would probably hinge on how much financial support the Dutch government is willing to provide.

SHARES OF Volvo AG and BMW AG have climbed recently amid speculation of merger talks between the automakers and Ford Motor Co.If Ford hooks up with a foreign automobile manufacturer, it would be the second major change recently in the automotive landscape. The first change came in May, when Daimler-Benz AG, the German industrial giant that makes Mercedes-Benz automobiles, announced an agreement to acquire Chrysler Corp. for more than $30 billion.Is a wave of international consolidation in the automotive industry inevitable?

DETROIT -- After a tremendous run-up, shares of DaimlerChrysler AG may have peaked yesterday, as traders appear to have decided that selling Chrysler was fun, but now it's time to cash out and sell those shares. Just three months ago, on Feb. 13, the day before DaimlerChrysler AG first hinted the Chrysler Group might be sold, the stock opened at $63.94. Now that a deal has been announced for private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management to acquire Chrysler, DaimlerChrysler's shares are going for more than $86 - a 34 percent increase in just three months.

BERLIN -- DaimlerChrysler AG insists it is keeping all options open for the future of the Chrysler Group. But judging by its tense annual meeting here yesterday, Daimler's marriage to Chrysler is already finished, except for the ink on the divorce papers. Trying to placate restive shareholders, DaimlerChrysler confirmed for the first time that it was in negotiations with a number of bidders about a deal for the troubled American unit, which lost $1.5 billion last year. "We are talking with some of the potential partners who have shown a clear interest," the chief executive, Dieter Zetsche, said.

Who hasn't had a Walter Mitty daydream of roaring over the open road in a Mercedes-Benz with the top down, a beautiful companion at your side, and the speedometer standing slightly off the century mark? These elegant driving machines that have been synonymous for over 100 years with luxury, affluence and power politics are the subject of Apex of Glory: Benz, Daimler & Mercedes-Benz 1885-1955, a recently published book written by Blaine Taylor of Towson. The book, which tips the scales at a little over 4 pounds and includes 450 photographs of the fabled cars, will send the most dyed-in-the-wool Mercedes fan over the top. Of the vehicle's birth, Taylor writes, "The car ... had been invented jointly but separately by German entrepreneurs Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in 1885, and their firms remained fierce rivals until their unexpected merger in 1926."

Auburn Hills, Mich. -- DaimlerChrysler AG's chief financial officer suggested yesterday that the German automaker might jettison its American partner as it tries to cut losses racked up by the Chrysler Group. "We don't exclude anything here," Chief Financial Officer Bodo Uebber said during a conference call on DaimlerChrysler's third-quarter results, which were marred by a $1.48 billion loss at Chrysler. Pressed about the possibility of spinning off Chrysler or pairing it with another automaker, Uebber told reporters and analysts that the company was analyzing the situation and would draw its conclusions afterward.

The cat is out of the bag. DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's third-largest vehicle-maker formed in the merger of Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp., was introduced as a "merger of equals" in 1998. Yeah, right. Top executives of the merged companies spoke proudly of the potential of the new partnership and how each side would benefit. Few believed them. Chrysler was in a tailspin and Daimler-Benz, the buyer, would run the company. Cut to 2006. Mustachioed DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche is all over the airwaves and Internet as the firm's deadpan spokesman.

DETROIT -- Americans shied away from large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks in April as gasoline prices approached $3 a gallon, and with a battery of new SUVs waiting in the wings, domestic automakers are now facing the very scenario they had hoped to avoid. Despite gains at Toyota and Honda, declines at General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler and Nissan pushed vehicle sales in the United States down 0.1 percent in April, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank. General Motors had the biggest drop, selling 7.3 percent fewer vehicles than it did in April 2005.

FROM my bedroom window I watch the morning mist rise. My eyes search the distance. Will I have another vision? Chat with you on Father's Day again? The mist parts, I see you coming toward me. I wish to embrace you, but this I know I cannot do.Instead of an old man ravaged by disease, you appear in the prime of life with a body used to physical labor, with eyes that reflect kindness and understanding.Your rejuvenated look takes me back to the time we lived in Berlin, Germany. I see us sitting around the kitchen table: Mama with the coffee grinder between her knees, the smell of coffee blending with that of the rolls in the oven.

DETROIT -- DaimlerChrysler AG's embattled Chairman Juergen E. Schrempp, who oversaw the 1998 merger that created the German-American automaker, said yesterday that he would step down at the end of the year. He will be replaced by Dieter Zetsche, who has revived the sales and profits of the company's Chrysler division in nearly five years as its chief. The surprise announcement, coinciding with DaimlerChrysler's second-quarter earnings report, follows continuing criticism of Schrempp's leadership and a contentious shareholder meeting in April as the combined company struggles to be consistently profitable.

General Motors Corp. erased months of disappointing sales and declining market share by selling 550,000 vehicles in June, its best month since October 2001, when it launched zero-percent financing. The company's Employee Discount for Everyone boosted GM's sales 42 percent from May and 47 percent above June 2004, prompting DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group to announce that it will start a similar program Wednesday. GM's offer, which began June 3, expires Tuesday. The automaker gave no hint yesterday about whether it will extend the offer.