By Dan McCue
Staff Writer

Jason Vines, Chrysler’s Detroit-based vice president of corporate communications, said it’s important to remember that Daimler will remain a 19.9% owner of Chrysler in the $7.4 billion deal, and that everyone involved has agreed that joint projects by the two companies, including the Sprinter van plant here, will continue.

“The phrase we keep repeating in regard to these operations is we’ll be going forward, business as usual,” Vines said. “And, of course, Sprinter has been a real bright spot in this market.”

Daimler-Benz of Germany paid $36 billion for Chrysler in a 1998 merger, in large part attracted to the latter company’s then highly profitable lineup of Jeeps and minivans.

The merger, however, never resulted in the profits or market position that Daimler envisioned. In 2006, for instance, the same year it fell to fourth place in the U.S. market, behind Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., it posted a yearly loss of $1.5 billion.

If the deal with Cerberus is approved by shareholders, the equity company will hold the majority stake in a new Chrysler Holding LLC and assume Chrysler Corp.’s nearly $20 billion in pension and health care obligations.

Industry analysts said Monday the main reason Cerberus is eager to buy the automaker is to combine its lending arm, Chrysler Financial, with its 51% stake in GMAC, General Motors’ former financing arm.

DaimlerChrysler launched the latest generation of its popular Sprinter van March 27 with the official opening of the former American LaFrance facility that the company had retrofitted to handle assembly-line production over the previous seven months.

DaimlerChrysler took ownership of the facility in January 2006 after American LaFrance was purchased by Patriarch Partners. Since November 2006, both the custom emergency vehicle manufacturer and the German automaker have been using portions of the facility.

This dual use is scheduled to continue until July, by which time American LaFrance will be completely moved into its new headquarters and production facility off Interstate 26 in Berkeley County.

Company officials emphasized earlier this month that production at the facility will continue as planned and workers’ jobs are not in jeopardy as a result of the deal.

The Ladson facility has the capacity to produce 32,000 Sprinter vans a year, and plans call for it to continue to produce the vehicles under both the Freightliner and Dodge brands. The facility currently employs 180 workers.

Dan McCue is a staff writer for the Business Journal. E-mail him at dmccue@charlestonbusiness.com.

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