mercedes : China Brilliance says in talks with Daimler on JV

mercedes : SHANGHAI, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The state of the parent company of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings (1114.HK) is in talks with Daimler AG (DAIGn.DE), a joint venture in China, the special purpose vehicles, executives at the parent company, Brilliance Auto, said on Monday.

"Brilliance is a production of tie-up with Daimler now to convert Mercedes-Benz vehicles in special-purpose models," said one executive Brilliance Auto, which was informed of the matter.

The shareholding structure and size of the company have not been finalized, but an agreement could be reached before the end of the year, the executive told Reuters.

"The options are now open. We are building a new plant or the use of existing capacities Brilliance, Brilliance Auto another executive said, are converted Mercedes-Benz models will be sold in China.

Both executives asked not be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.

A Daimler spokesman in China could not be reached immediately for comment.

Daimler, Mercedes-Benz sedans in China with Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Corp. (BAIC). He agreed late last year, a medium to heavy truck venture with BAIC subsidiary Beiqi Foton Motor Co (600166.SS).

The German car manufacturer also owns 34 percent of the three-way truck tie-up in South China with Fujian Motor and Taiwan China Motor.

Brilliance Auto, the country's largest car manufacturer eighth and a BMW (BMWG.DE) partners, produces BMW 3-Series and 5 Series sedans at a plant in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang.

Yufei Wan, the chief of Brilliance of the international trading arm, said in April that the two partners built their second plant in China, where car-government as a solid aggressive stimulus measures lift consumer confidence.

The expansion could be the annual capacity of the JV from 75,000 to 80,000 units in the second half of next year, from 30,000 at the end of 2008, Wan added.

BMW, however, said no decision had been made on a second plant.

Brilliance Auto was dispatched its BS6 and BS4 sedans medium, the in-house in Europe since 2007. Both models rated poorly in the first crash tests, although improvements have been made in the wake of the BS6 model. (Reporting by Fang Yan and Jacqueline Wong) - mercedes

Daimler AG recalls.

Daimler AG, the manufacturer in the second place largest of the world of the vehicles of luxury, recalls more than 9.000 cars of diesel-engine of the UNITED STATES model for Year 2007 Mercedes-Benz, because a potential problem of probe could make lose the cars power.

In certain cars, the wire could separated from the reinforcement of probe of crankshaft, causing an interruption in electric connection with the piece holding the probe, the national administration of road safety of road of the UNITED STATES said in a report/ratio on its site of Web of recall. Consequently, the car cannot be restarted after failure of electric connection in the probe, increasing the risk of an accident, according to the report/ratio. Cars in the classes of E, GL, M and R are affected, and the retailers will start to replace the probe the next month, the agency known as.

The spokesman Robert Moran of Mercedes and the horn of Christoph immediately did not return a call or messages of E-mail seeking the comment. The newspaper of Wall Street brought back the first time the recall earlier today. Daimler fell 3.50 euros, or 6.6 percent, with 49.78 euros today in Frankfurt. The shares decreased 25 percent this month.

Daimler's Mercedes Full-Year Sales Rise 2% on C-Class

Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz Cars division, the world's second-largest maker of luxury vehicles, said 2007 sales rose 2 percent on demand for a new C-Class sedan and updated versions of its sport-utility vehicles.

Deliveries by the division, which includes the Mercedes- Benz, Smart and Maybach brands, increased to 1.29 million cars and SUVs from 1.26 million a year earlier, Stuttgart, Germany- based Daimler said in a statement today.

Chief Executive Officer Dieter Zetsche aims to raise the division's earnings as a proportion of sales to ``at least'' 10 percent by 2010, potentially surpassing competitor Bayerische Motoren Werke AG in profitability. The Mercedes-Benz brand has eliminated more than 9,000 assembly-line jobs and is reducing the number of parts in models such as the S-Class, its largest sedan.

Mercedes-Benz brand sales rose 3.2 percent to 1.19 million cars and SUVs last year. Deliveries of Smart cars fell 10 percent to 100,600 vehicles after Mercedes scaled back the lineup to a single, two-seat model. Maybach sales were unchanged at 400 cars.

Deliveries of the entry-level C-Class surged 57 percent to 261,500 vehicles. The company began selling new versions of the car in March, replacing a model dating from 2000, and added a station wagon last month. Sales of Mercedes-Benz SUVs gained 6.3 percent to 180,100 units.

Mercedes-Benz Cars' sales in Asia rose 9.7 percent last year to 142,700 vehicles and increased 2.2 percent in the U.S. to 253,400. In Germany, the company's largest market, sales fell 3.5 percent to 341,800 vehicles.