Mercedes still may profit from Chrysler

Mercedes still may profit from Chrysler

While the general understanding is that Mercedes is finished with
Chrysler, in fact Mercedes may still benefit from their so far
ill fated takeover.  Unrecognized by most is that Mercedes made
Chrysler dependent on them for suspensions and transmissions for
its large cars, and one complete vehicle Chrysler will continue
to assemble from Mercedes supplied kits: the Sprinter.  Of course,
Mercedes must be cautious to provide these parts at competitive
prices, lest Chrysler continue to lose money, something that may
be more difficult with the fall of the dollar.

Also often unrecognized is that Mercedes still owns 19.1% of
Chrysler, so if Chrysler eventually becomes profitable and
valuable, Mercedes' remaining stake might be sold for real money.
This would be in contrast to the Cerberus deal, where Mercedes
claimed it received money for Chrysler, but in actuality paid
Cerberus to take 79.9% of Chrysler.

The year end Mercedes news conference proved less than
enlightening in most respects.  While Mercedes spokesman Heinreich
Tungensheek expressed disappointment over Chrysler discontinuing
the reskinned SLK it sold as the Crossfire, he refused to comment
on a question of whether retention of 19.1% of Chrysler was an
astute business move.  The implication of the question was that
the only reason Mercedes still had a stake is Chrysler is because
it couldn't afford to give Cerberus any more money to take the 

remainder.

However, the mystery of the pronunciation of DaimlerChrysler was
finally resolved.  To American eyes, it looked like it should have
been pronounced "Dame lur cry slur".  Yet ads during Mercedes
owner****p consistently said "Dime lur cry slur".  "It was
pronounced 'Dime lur', said Mr. Tungensheek.  "The 'Chrysler' was
silent".