DaimlerChrysler minus Chrysler is equal to Daimler only
by EVANDER KLUM
Yesterday, in an Extraordinary Shareholder��s Meeting held in Berlin, the corporate name DaimlerChrysler AG was torn down to Daimler AG. The move was said to reflect the Chrysler LLC sale to Cerberus Capital Management LP recently. For Daimler AG CEO, Dieter Zetsche, the removal of the Chrysler name from their company��s name is a beginning of a new day for the German automaker. The vote for the name slashing gained 98.8 percent by the almost 6,000 shareholders present in the meeting. The amendment took effect immediately although it will take the Stuttgart-based automaker to change their signs, stationery and their 170,000 e-mail address.
Earlier this year, Daimler sold Chrysler for $7.81 billion after the ill-fated merging for nine years since 1998. Daimler once had been with Chrysler throughout the American automaker��s ups and downs and its continuous cost-cutting.
��Our earnings will now be more sustainable, as we will no longer be so strongly dependent on the volatile North American volume market,�� Zetsche said.
Daimler��s let go of Chrysler LLC would mean freedom for the company to concentrate on ��what we do best�� said Zetsche, referring to luxury cars, trucks and other commercial vehicles, vans, buses and financial services.
��We are not striving to become the world��s largest automotive company. Instead, our aim is to be one of the most admired and respected on a permanent basis.��
A member of Karl Ben��s family tree, Heidemarie Hirsch proposed on restoring his ancestor��s name as part of the new corporate name to becom Daimler-Benz or plainly Benz AG.
��Give Karl Benz his due place in the front row,�� Hirsch said. ��Give the company back its personality, its character, its face.��
The CEO pointed out that the company, although will not carry the Benz name in its corporate name, will not forget Karl Benz. The automotive pioneer��s name will still be marked on the company��s flagship luxury brand, Mercedes Benz.
In his speech in the meeting, Zetsche stretched the importance of clear distinction between the company��s corporate entity and its product brands. He said that through this, the product brand swill be stronger and will establish its clear identity. The Daimler chief also bragged that according to surveys, Mercedes-Benz is ��the most coveted automobile in Germany.��
To make the Benz name more visible, the smart cars will be renamed to Mercedes-Benz Cars and bearing the name for the whole passenger car division of the company.
The companies of automotive pioneers Karl Benz and Gottlieb merged in 1926 forming the Daimler-Benz AG. In 1998, as the company merged with the American automaker, Chrysler LLC, the Benz name was dropped and the name became DaimlerChrysler AG.
In the 18th century Gottlieb Daimler sold the ��Daimler�� name rights to Jaguar whom he allowed to build cars under his name. Jaguar is a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., entailing the German automaker to also buy the rights from the American company for $20 million. Jaguar is still using the Daimler name on some of its cars.
Daimler is the world��s second largest producer of premium vehicles next to also Germany-based BMW AG (makes BMW vehicles with BMW parts).
