Ford, DaimlerChrysler reach deal on name

What's in a name? For German automaker DaimlerChrysler AG, a lot of history and a brand identity it has nurtured for the greater part of a century.

So when it moved to sell its money-losing Chrysler Group and unwind the $US36 billion ($A43.96 billion) merger that created the company in 1998, it sought to retain use of the Daimler name - closely associated with Germany's automotive pioneer.

On Thursday, the Stuttgart-based automaker confirmed that it would be able to call itself Daimler AG, with permission coming from the most unlikely of places - Ford Motor Co.

The tangled process of dubbing the truncated German car maker Daimler AG required involving the American car maker as well as the British premium automaker Jaguar, which Ford acquired nearly 20 years ago.

That's because Jaguar acquired the rights to the Daimler name nearly half a century ago, when it bought Britain's Daimler Motor Co, which had bought a license to build the engine developed by Gottleib Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach so it could build cars in Britain late in the 19th century.

The British Daimler Motor Co was later merged with the BSA Group and that company, in turn, became part of Jaguar Cars Ltd in 1960. Jaguar, in turn, was acquired by Ford in 1989.

Don Hume, a spokesman for Ford's Premier Auto Group, said the two sides agreed that DaimlerChrysler can use Daimler for trade and corporate purposes, but not as a car brand.

"You won't see a Daimler-badged Mercedes," he said, adding that the Daimler name is used on vehicles only by the high-end Jaguar XJ series.

The last German car to bear the Daimler brand was produced in early 20th century. Daimler-Benz AG, like its predecessor, DaimlerChrysler, has produced its cars under the Mercedes-Benz tag since just after 1900.

DaimlerChrysler spokeswoman Marina Raptis told The Associated Press that "There is no disagreement with Ford regarding the use of the name Daimler."

The deal was finalised in mid-May, before DaimlerChrysler agreed to sell an 80.1-per cent stake in the Chrysler Group to private equity group Cerberus Capital Management LLC in a $US7.4 billion ($A9.04 billion) deal.

DaimlerChrysler shareholders will meet in Berlin on October 4 to approve the name change back to Daimler AG. The proposal is expected to pass, despite the concerns of some that by not restoring the Daimler-Benz name the company is ignoring the work of Karl Benz, who designed and patented an internal combustion flat engine before merging his company, Benz & Cie, with Daimler in 1926.

Source: AAP 2007

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