From Deutsche Presse-Agentur

STUTTGART, Germany -- Automotive group Daimler has plenty of cash and may go back on the buying trail after divesting itself of Chrysler, chief executive Dieter Zetsche said Wednesday in an interview.

"Acquisitions are an option for growth," he said in an interview with the two news agencies Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa and dpa-AFX in Stuttgart.

The German car and truck maker would be primarily interested in the truck industry, services, insurance and any business involved in emissions reduction.

Confirming past forecasts of earnings before interest and taxes of at least $12.4 billion for the current year, Zetsche was also upbeat about 2008, saying he expected operational improvements in every area so as to achieve 2010 margin targets.

A fresh takeover in the car industry after Daimler had sold most of its U.S. unit Chrysler to equity investors was "highly unlikely," he said.

Daimler would only invest in a business with prospects of profits and strategic gains, "not because we don't know what else to do with our money," the chief executive said.

Financially, Daimler had "practically no limits" in raising the funds, with nearly $20 billion in net liquidity at the last quarterly report.

Zetsche said Daimler's troubled micro car, the Smart, would come out of the red into the black in the current year and a profit was planned next year.

"We are naturally thinking about whether the Fortwo ought to remain the only model in the range," he said, referring to the vain bids in the past to make money with variant Smarts.

"But we have learned from experience that having multiple models does not improve the situation per se."

Copyright 2007 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH