In context, Zetsche was referring to a car-sharing plan the company is experimenting with.
"I'm pretty optimistic this might be just the beginning, " says Daimler AG Chief Executive DieterZetscheDieter Zetsche.
"I cannot and will not go into any further details, " Zetsche told reporters in Detroit.
For Zetsche, the deal could add momentum to a company already on a hot streak.
By putting Chrysler in play, Zetsche bought himself some time to try to fix the struggling Chrysler.
The problem, Zetsche says, was that Smart provided its suppliers with guaranteed sales volumes, which it didn't meet.
"There are few areas where you don't hit Toyota as a benchmark, " says Dieter Zetsche, Chrysler's chief executive.
Zetsche doesn't seem all that eager to shed Chrysler, a company he successfully turned around earlier this decade.
"I'm pretty optimistic this might be just the beginning, " says Daimler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche .
Confronting some of the same cost issues, Zetsche slashed 27, 000 jobs at Chrysler and showed longtime managers the door.
As Dieter Zetsche see it, DaimlerChrysler's diesel Jeep Liberty sport utility, due next month, should be an easy sell.
Indeed, an alliance or partnership, rather than an outright sale, might be what Zetsche has in mind for Chrysler.
Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of Germany luxury car maker Daimler AG, aired qualms about Germany's shift in nuclear policy.
And "Dr. Z" Dieter Zetsche did it for DaimlerChrysler in a Dodge Challenger.
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"It will be much easier for Chrysler in this case, and in many others, to look for opportunities, " Zetsche said.
Dieter Zetsche, Chrysler's CEO, wants to continue the pattern of putting more design, engineering and manufacturing in the hands of suppliers.
Now, he and Zetsche agree: It will take the combined marketing efforts of all the European carmakers to turn Americans' heads.
Dieter Zetsche , chief executive of DaimlerChrysler, said that strategy will be easier to pursue when Chrysler is a stand-alone, private company.
"We will not brag about the fact that there's a Mercedes engine in the Crossfire, " says Chrysler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche .
"Now is not the time to be adding new capacity, " says Zetsche.
"You have to be here, and you have to be here in a serious way, " Dieter Zetsche, Daimler Chrysler CEO, told CNN.
Zetsche will still need to get DaimlerChrysler's disparate parts to work together.
That is not easy when jobs are at risk, though Mr Zetsche and Mr Ghosn insist they have achieved this in their triple alliance.
"If you ask them to do it for themselves, you'll be surprised how much the price comes down, " says Chrysler Group Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche.
Keynote speakers at CES include Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of management of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, and Ford Motor Co.
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China in particular presents a significant opportunity for growth, Zetsche said.
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Former Chrysler President Wolfgang Bernhard, who, with Zetsche, helped lead an earlier turnaround at Chrysler, has joined Cerberus and will serve as an adviser to Chrysler.
With bargaining on a new national contract set to begin later this year, Zetsche's message to the UAW was clear: Accept new terms, or Chrysler could be sold.
The big opportunity, according to both Mr Zetsche and Tom LaSorda, Chrysler's boss, lies overseas, where the firm is little more than an asterisk on the sales charts.
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