DaimlerChrysler To Build VW Mini-Van for U.S. Market?
FRANKFURT, Germany August 23, 2005; The AP reprted that Financial daily Handelsblatt, citing company sources, said the automakers DaimlerChrysler AG and Volkswagen AG are in talks about jointly producing a VW-branded minivan for the U.S. market,
and that an announcement was likely at next month's international auto show.
They said that neither VW nor DaimlerChrysler had immediate comment.
The paper also reported that the talks were being shepherded by Dieter Zetsche, the incoming CEO of DaimlerChrysler, and Wolfgang Bernhard, who oversees the VW brand for the Wolfsburg-based VW.
Bernhard, who was pushed out of DaimlerChrysler last year, only to land at Volkswagen, is Zetsche's former lieutenant.
DaimlerChrysler has increased its sales and market share in the U.S. of late and makes the popular Dodge Caravan and Chrysler Town and Country minivans. VW, in contrast, has seen its sales there fall because of a lack of new models, high costs and quality issues.
Handelsblatt said the VW-branded minivan would likely be built by Chrysler and available to consumers by 2007.