Disgruntled Investors Demand Chrysler Spin-off from DCX

Growing ranks of shareholders in DaimlerChrysler are calling for a spin-off of loss-making U.S. arm Chrysler, which they say is dragging down the group and damaging management's credibility.

But that pits them directly against Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche and his executive team, who remain determined to hang on to Chrysler and restore it to profit.

"I would welcome a separation of Daimler from Chrysler," said Ingo Speich, portfolio manager for car stocks at German fund manager Union Investment, which with nearly 14 million shares is among the biggest German investors in the group.

"Cooperation between Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler is still very limited," he said, undermining a key argument for the 1998 merger with Daimler-Benz that formed the world's fifth-biggest carmaker.




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Gennissen - 11/30/2006 9:36:54 AM

+2 Boost

Dude, know your financials. DCX actually managed to post higher than expected earnings over the last period. However, Chrysler was responsible (and has been for a while)for the erosion in the groups overall earnings. This my dear friend - is to say that Mercedes Benz, with or without reliability issues, is earning the big bucks and Chrysler is spending them.
The truth is in the standalone benz strategy works irrespective of it being reliable or not.