Daimler-Benz, Mitsubishi Plan Broad Cooperation
In their first top-level meeting since agreeing in March to cooperate in a wide range of areas, West Germany’s Daimler-Benz and Japan’s Mitsubishi Group have explored projects from off-road vehicles to refrigerators and airplanes, the two conglomerates announced Wednesday at a joint press conference here.
Each company hopes to tap the other’s technology and gain access to their respective markets, but the two giants admitted that their union has been far from smooth.
“The effort expended in terms of getting to know each other has been greater than I had expected,” Edzard Reuter, chairman of Daimler-Benz AG, said in a statement read by the company’s chief financial officer. Reuter left the city early and did not attend the press conference.
The only specific agreement announced was a joint venture to distribute Mercedes passenger cars in Japan. Nevertheless, executives of the two groups said talks in other areas were likely to begin bearing fruit when they meet again next spring.
“In the past six months we have had considerable technical exchanges between the two groups,” said Shinroku Murohashi, president of Mitsubishi Corp., the core company in the group. “We are pleased with the progress. Each project is moving a little bit more toward completion.”
Among the areas discussed were:
* Aerospace. The executives said talks were at a very preliminary stage but confirmed reports that the two sides were discussing the possible joint development of mid-sized commercial aircraft. Daimler executives also confirmed they would invite Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to join in its joint aircraft engine development with Pratt & Whitney.
* Auto production. Daimler executives said Mitsubishi was likely to be invited to join them in the production of automobiles in East Germany. But they denied early reports that there would also be joint production in the Soviet Union. Discussions there focused only on asking Mitsubishi to help build and finance the factory.
* Off-road vehicles. Mercedes-Benz Chief Financial Officer Gerhard Liener said the company wants to reduce production costs by jointly designing parts that would be used in its luxury off-road vehicles, which are produced in small numbers, and those of Mitsubishi.
