Mitsubishi, Daimler-Benz to Strengthen Ties : Global Industry: Executives of the Japanese and West German conglomerates agree to form an alliance. The move would give them both an edge in world business.

In an apparent strategy to gain access to the united European Economic Community market after 1992, Japan’s largest industrial group announced Tuesday that it was negotiating with its West German counterpart to expand cooperation in electronics, aerospace and a range of other fields.

Mitsubishi Corp., the core company of the giant Mitsubishi conglomerate, said its top executives had met last weekend in Singapore with executives of the Daimler-Benz group and agreed to strengthen business ties between the two groups, which already cooperate in the automotive sector.

Mitsubishi said in a statement that increased cooperation would be pursued in “high-growth industries” that would “benefit from development on a global scale and make effective use of the skills of both groups.”

Although details of the proposed business alliance were not spelled out, the move can be expected to give both groups a stronger edge in international competition in the years to come.

Daimler-Benz, which includes the auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, would gain access to Japanese high technology, and companies in the Mitsubishi group would enjoy marketing channels in post-1992 Europe, where the Japanese fear the rise of trade protectionism.

“The concrete details are yet to be worked out,” Yoshio Taniguchi, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Corp., told the Asahi newspaper. “In any event, we have made a cooperative relationship.”

Shinroku Morohashi, president of Mitsubishi Corp., the general trading firm that coordinates the activities of the 41 companies in the Mitsubishi group, led the delegation to Singapore last weekend. He was joined by the heads of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Electric.

From the West German side, Daimler-Benz Chairman Edzard Reuter led representatives from the electronics giant AEG, Deutsche Aerospace and Daimler-Benz Inter Services, the group’s trading company.

“There was a far-reaching exchange of ideas about ways to expand the relationship beyond the automotive sector, where Mercedes Benz and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. have enjoyed close ties,” Mitsubishi’s statement said.

The top executives will continue to hold talks periodically, with the next meeting set for 1991, Mitsubishi said.

Mitsubishi Motors currently sells Mercedes-Benzes in Japan through its domestic distribution network.

The Mitsubishi Group, with combined annual revenues of close to $200 billion, is descended from a zaibatsu, a prewar industrial and financial conglomerate.

Companies in the group have recently attracted attention in the United States for aggressive business activities:

* Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the leader in Japan’s defense industry, is the main contractor on the controversial FSX fighter development project, which has become the symbol of “techno-nationalism” friction between Japan and the United States.

* Mitsubishi Estate raised hackles at the end of October by purchasing a 51% stake in New York’s Rockefeller Center, a conspicuous landmark property that symbolized Japan’s surge in investment in U.S. real estate.

* Mitsubishi Corp. announced in January it would finance an $850-million leveraged buyout of Pittsburgh-based Aristech Chemical Corp. in an apparent bid to gain inroads into the American petrochemical market.

Taniguchi, Mitsubishi Corp.’s vice president, said at the news conference Tuesday that the tie-up should not be perceived as threatening to the United States since nothing concrete had been decided yet.

Taniguchi reportedly said, “It is inconceivable that this would aggravate the American side, and we have no intention whatsoever to aggravate the American side.”

Mitsubishi officials said the areas of cooperation with Daimler-Benz would exclude activities in the defense industry, according to Japanese press reports.