According to DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche said that the German automaker Mercedes-Benz expects to gain revenues on vehicles making use of the sophisticated new hybrid system that it was able to develop with general Motors Corporation.

General Motors has admitted that it initially thought it would only lose money on this system. Zetsche acknowledged his more optimistic expectation to the higher sales price of Mercedes-Benz. But despite that, Zetche said that Mercedes will make use of this system on only one of the lot of hybrid models that it plans to launch over the following years.

The powerful two-mode hybrid system will only be used on the M-Class SUV and the other vehicles like the company’s flagship S-Class luxury sedan will only be using the mild hybrid system. The difference of the two is that the mild hybrid system will not have the power to move the vehicles only with the electric power in city traffic.

Zetsche’s optimism suggests that Mercedes will charge premium for the system, because the prices of the M-Class substantially overlap models of GM like the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon that will offer the system.

The German company will soon change its name to Daimler shortly after to reflect the sale control of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management. Also, according to Zetsche, it “will continue to cooperate with Chrysler in areas where it makes sense” and will look into the idea of working with other automakers on projects that would decrease its costs without weakening Mercedes-Benz brand’s status.

Daimler is not planning in bidding on Ford Motor Co.’s Jaguar and Land Rover unit.

Zetsche said, “I can’t see how, in a foreseeable time, we could add so much value to Jaguar and Land Rover to pay for the acquisition price.”

He said that Daimler, however, anticipates to turn a profit on U.S sales of its tiny Smart Fortwo two-seat city runabout. This is designed to be used on congested European cities and it will be available for sale in the United States early next year. Its prices will begin at $11,590.

“We had 30,000 Internet reservations” from U.S. customers “with a $99 down payment,” far more than expected, he said. “Almost all of them are converting that into orders with a larger deposit.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 12th, 2007 at 4:13 am and is filed under Mercedes Benz News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.