BERLIN – Shareholders of DaimlerChrysler AG have approved the renaming of the company to Daimler AG.
As part of the name change, the company’s production plants and sales organizations in Germany and abroad will also be renamed.
According to the company, the guiding principle of the name change process is to develop a clear distinction between the corporate brand Daimler and the group’s various product brands. The corporate brand Daimler will serve to identify the group in its dealings with political decision-makers, the general public, the financial markets, the business media and its employees. It will also serve as an umbrella for all of its product brands. By contrast, the company said its product brands Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, smart, Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star, Setra, Thomas Built Buses, Orion and Mitsubishi Fuso will serve as "business cards" to its customers.
The company will be called Daimler wherever several product brands are produced or sold, or where the focus is on the group as a whole. Plants and sales organizations that exclusively or primarily produce or sell a single product brand will be named after the respective product brand.
With the exception of the locations in Palo Alto, CA, and Bangalore (India) all of the company’s research centers will be called Daimler, whereas the development centers will be named after the respective product brand. The financial services division will be called Daimler Financial Services.
The individual production plants will be renamed as follows:
* Mercedes-Benz: Aksaray, Bad Cannstatt, Barcelona, Bremen, Bruhl, Davutpasa, Dusseldorf, East London, Gaggenau, Global Logistic Center, Hamburg, Hedelfingen, Hosdere, Juiz de Fora, Kassel, Ludwigsfelde, Mannheim, Marienfelde, Mettingen, Molsheim, Rastatt, Sindelfingen, Sirnau, Sao Bernado, Tuscaloosa, Unterturkheim, Vitoria and Worth;
* smart: Hambach;
* Fuso: Tramagal; and
* EvoBus: Dortmund, Holysoy, Ligny, Mannheim Samano and Ulm/Neu-Ulm.
The sales organizations that exclusively or primarily sell Mercedes-Benz products and will therefore be renamed Mercedes-Benz include those in Germany, Egypt, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico (passenger cars), the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia & Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, South Korea, Thailand, the Czech Republic, the U.K., Hungary, the U.S. and Vietnam.
