DaimlerChrysler chief executive Juergen Schrempp said Chrysler had made "outstanding progress" in improving efficiency.
Mr Schrempp talks about overcoming this with a low basic salary and a high performance-based bonus.
Mr Schrempp's plans to create a global car giant appeared to be based on impeccable business logic.
So when, in 1997, Mr Schrempp sought to reopen talks with Chrysler, he got a friendly reception.
Mr Schrempp promised that Smart would start to turn a profit in 2007, three years behind schedule.
To their relief, Mr Schrempp left the country without the subject being raised.
Schrempp is expected by his shareholders, workers and governing politicians to hold Daimler's own against the U.S. carmakers around the world.
Mr Stallkamp had been undermined by the Germans for weeks before Mr Schrempp gave Mr Eaton the order to fire him.
"In the first six months of this year Daimler-Benz achieved the best result in the history of the company, " said chairman Juergen Schrempp.
Besides Sarin, other non-executive directors facing investor wrath are Michael Boskin , Jurgen Schrempp and the former chairman of Marks and Spencer, Luc Vandevelde .
Mr Schrempp's lieutenants believe the Asia Express, in which the European consortium is to hold 39%, would be even less competitive than the now-defunct Fokker 100.
Inevitably, Megatrends was an early victim of Mr Schrempp's cutbacks.
Mr Zetsche was the chief executive of Chrysler at the time, before taking over from Schrempp at the helm of DaimlerChrysler, only to oversee the break-up of the company.
It might lead to deals in a host of other industries too, despite Mr Schrempp's assurances as the deal was announced that Daimler will hold on to its non-automotive businesses.
Daimler-Benz, for its part, was under the spell of Mr Schrempp, who had spent the formative periods of his adult life in South Africa and who still goes there to relax.
The suit was filed in October 2000 after the Financial Times reported that Daimler-Benz Chairman Juergen Schrempp said he always intended Chrysler to be nothing more than a unit of DaimlerChrysler.
No wonder Juergen Schrempp at DaimlerChrysler is pleased with himself - he seems to have managed what few of his compatriot tycoons have achieved - a solid merger with a large US company.
Daimler's 1998 merger with Chrysler also collapsed in 2007, amid much disgruntlement in Detroit about the-then chief executive Juergen Schrempp's domineering attitude that gave the impression that Chrysler had been an acquisition for the German group.
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