Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

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Contract-signing ceremony in Delhi, India
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Total investment of over €700 million until 2013
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Start of production planned for 2010
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Daimler Manager Marc Llistosella appointed CEO of the new joint venture

Stuttgart/Delhi, Apr 21, 2008 – The Indian Hero Group and Daimler AG signed a contract today in Delhi that governs the establishment of the Daimler Hero Motor Corporation Ltd. commercial vehicle joint venture. Approval for the new company was issued by the Indian government in March 2008, and the two partners now plan to proceed rapidly with the implementation of the joint venture.

The Daimler Hero Motor Corporation will initially produce light, medium, and heavy-duty commercial vehicles for the Indian volume market under a new brand name. The search for a suitable production location is currently under way. Negotiations are being conducted with three Indian states. The talks are expected to conclude shortly.
Once a decision is made, construction will begin on a plant that will start manufacturing commercial vehicles in 2010. The new company is aiming to achieve a localization rate of up to 80% in order to optimally utilize cost advantages. Production of commercial vehicles for export to other emerging markets will be launched at a later date.

The total investment of the German-Indian Joint Venture will be over €700 million over the next five years. The equity of Daimler and the Hero Group into the new company will be in sum €360 million; thereof Daimler will contribute €220 million in the form of foreign direct investment.
Marc Llistosella, who directed the joint venture project from the Daimler side, will become CEO of the Daimler Hero Motor Corporation. Amit Chaturvedi, currently President, Strategy and Business Development, at Hero Corporate Service Ltd. and project leader from the Hero Group, will serve as Co-CEO. Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal will be the chairman of the new company’s Board of Directors. The company will be managed jointly by the two partners.

“Today is a further important milestone for Daimler Trucks and our Asia strategy,” said Andreas Renschler, member of the Daimler AG Board of Management and head of Daimler Trucks. “In the Hero Group we have found an ideal partner, as the two companies perfectly complement one another in terms of the experience and expertise they contribute to the joint venture.
The fact that the negotiations and the approval process ran so smoothly makes me very confident that the establishment of the new company will proceed just as rapidly and successfully.”

Hero has a proven track record of managing long-term relationships with business partners. The Daimler Hero Motor Corporation has been conceived as a long term business by both sides, where we’ll be able to contribute our complementary competences and to learn from each other”, Mr. Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman of Hero Corporate Service, said. “This joint venture has been planned against a backdrop where large parts of India are increasingly getting connected through trade and commerce, so the growth upside in the long term is strong.’’

About Daimler Trucks

Daimler Trucks is a division of Daimler AG and the world’s leading truck manufacturer. Its five leading truck brands – Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, and Mitsubishi Fuso – generated revenues of €28.466 billion in 2007 on sales of more than 467,667 units worldwide.

About the Hero Group

The Hero Group, which was founded more than 50 years ago by the Munjal family, is now a major conglomerate with numerous divisions and products that generate annual revenues of over $4 billion. The company has an excellent network and comprehensive knowledge of the Indian market. Hero Honda Motors Ltd. – a joint venture between the Hero Group and Honda – is the world’s leading motorcycle manufacturer and has built more than 20 million motorcycles for the Indian market to date.

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Oschersleben, Apr 20, 2008

§ Bruno Spengler (Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class) finished the second round of the 2008 DTM in Oschersleben in third place and was the best C-Class driver. His HWA team mates Paul Di Resta (AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Jamie Green (Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class) came home fourth and fifth respectively.
§ After 44 laps and a Safety Car period in the closing stages, Spengler ended up 3.751sec behind winner Timo Scheider (Audi) and 2.299sec behind Martin Tomczyk (Audi).
§ In his second DTM race, Ralf Schumacher (Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class) finished 10th and was the best driver with a 2007 C-Class. He came home less than two seconds behind the last points place (eighth).
§ Last year’s winner Gary Paffett (stern AMG Mercedes C-Class) and Bernd Schneider (Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class) ended up 11th and 12th respectively; both had received drive-through penalties which prevented them from finishing in the points.
§ The other C-Class drivers: Mathias Lauda (Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class) was 13th ahead of Susie Stoddart (TV Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class). DTM rookie Maro Engel (JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class) retired due to an accident without his own fault when his C-Class was hit by Tom Kristensen’s Audi.
§ A crowd of 64,000 attended the second round of the 2008 season during the weekend.

The start: Bruno Spengler moved up from fifth on the grid to fourth place, and when leader Tom Kristensen received a drive-though penalty due to a jump start, the Canadian was third. Paul Di Resta followed in fourth position and Jamie Green was seventh. Bernd Schneider also received a drive-through penalty following a jump start.
Lap 4: Bernd Schneider drove through the pits for his penalty.
Lap 10: Bruno Spengler was third ahead of Paul Di Resta; Jamie Green drove in seventh place, but was slowed by Mattias Ekström (Audi) in fifth place. Gary Paffett in a 2007 car followed in eighth place; Ralf Schumacher was 12th.
Lap 14: Bruno Spengler, Jamie Green, Gary Paffett and Maro Engel made their respective first pit stops. When he resumed, Gary touched another car and as a consequence received a drive-though penalty.
Lap15: Paul Di Resta, Ralf Schumacher, Susie Stoddart and Bernd Schneider came in for fuel and tyres.
Lap 16: First pit stop of Mathias Lauda; now all drivers had completed their first compulsory stops. Bruno Spengler drove again in third place ahead of Paul Di Resta; Jamie Green moved up from seventh to sixth place.
Lap 17: Gary Paffett drove through the pits for his penalty.
Lap 19: Ralf Schumacher, Maro Engel, Susie Stoddart and Bernd Schneider pitted for the second time.
Lap 20: Second pit stop of Jamie Green, followed by Mathias Lauda one lap later.
Lap 22: Jamie Green overtook Mike Rockenfeller (Audi); one lap later, he passed Ekström to take seventh place.
Lap 24: Second pit stop of Bruno Spengler; Paul Di Resta followed two laps later.
Lap 27: Bruno Spengler was again third followed by Paul Di Resta; at the end of the second round of pit stops, Jamie Green had improved to fifth place.
Lap 36: Maro Engel was hit by Tom Kristensen (Audi) at the Hotel turn and retired from 10th pace. The Safety Car was deployed.
Lap 40: Re-start. Bruno Spengler remained third ahead of Paul Di Resta and Jamie Green.
Finish (lap 44): Bruno Spengler finished third; Paul Di Resta came home fourth followed by Jamie Green. Ralf Schumacher was the best Mercedes-Benz driver with a last year’s car and ended up 10th.

Bruno Spengler (2008 Mercedes-Benz Bank AMG C-Class), third: “I am reasonably happy. I wanted to finish on the podium and I did. Starting fifth the third place is not a bad result. Maybe I could have done a bit better after the re-start, but I didn’t want to take chances and come home third. I thank my team; everybody worked hard and long during this week after Hockenheim and they did everything possible in this short period.”

Paul Di Resta (2008 AMG Mercedes C-Class), fourth: “Not an easy race. I had planned to score points and I was able to do so.”

Jamie Green (2008 Salzgitter AMG Mercedes C-Class), fifth: “This was a difficult race and particularly the fight with Markus Winkelhock in the end was really demanding. I gave it my all and moved up from seventh on the grid to fifth. After being touched at the rear my car was damaged and therefore lacked real performance.”

Ralf Schumacher (2007 Trilux AMG Mercedes C-Class), 10th: “10th place is a solid result for my second DTM race and I think that also the spectators enjoyed it. In the beginning, my speed was not so good, but then I came to grips with the car better and better and improved. After the re-start I had a problem at the front axle, but I managed to keep Gary and Bernd behind me.”

Gary Paffett (2007 stern AMG Mercedes C-Class), 11th: “The car was fine and I had a good speed. I was unlucky with the manoeuvre in the pits – I just didn’t see the other car. Without the drive-through penalty I would have scored points today, like in Hockenheim.”

Bernd Schneider (2008 Genuine Parts AMG Mercedes C-Class), 12th: “I wasn’t happy throughout the weekend. The jump-start today was my fault. Afterwards I tried to get the maximum out of my car. Without my mistake I certainly had scored some points.”

Mathias Lauda (2007 Pixum AMG Mercedes C-Class), 13th: “I made a good start and moved up to 11th at the first corner, but in turn two there was not enough room and I had an incident which misaligned the tracking of my car. Therefore I suffered from understeer throughout and wasn’t able to improve.”

Susie Stoddart (2007 TV-Spielfilm AMG Mercedes C-Class), 14th: “I was involved in an first-corner incident which damaged my car and in the consequence I suffered from understeer. However, I was able to impove slightly after my 16th place in Hockenheim and I want to do better again in Mugello in two weeks.”

Maro Engel (2007 JungeSterne AMG Mercedes C-Class), retired due to an accident without own fault: “Until the accident with Tom Kristensen it was quite a good race, a finish in the top ten was possible.”

Norbert Haug, Vice President Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: “Positions three, four and five by Bruno, Paul and Jamie are not really a great result; however, it is a better finish in a significantly more interesting race than in Hockenheim a week ago. We wanted to score as many points as possible here, and starting fifth, sixth and seventh we did this quite well. Eight of our nine cars finished among the first 14 places, which was an acceptable team performance considering our positions in qualifying. With his 10th place, Ralf Schumacher showed a solid performance. Congratulations to Timo Scheider in his Abt-Audi on his first win in the DTM, he deserved it. We now have to significantly improve further and everybody will work very hard to achieve this.”

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

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Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.

Copyright © 2008, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.