DaimlerChrysler has finally dumped Chrysler to private equity group Cerberus Capital Management for US$7.45 billion, or 5.5 billion euros. DaimlerChrysler will still retain 19.9 pecent of Chrysler, which means perhaps a name change will not happen anytime soon. The Cerberus stake is the entire 80.1 percent that’s being dumped off.

DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche said DCX has no plans to sell it’s remaining 19.9 percent of Chrysler, adding that it wanted to maintain close ties with Chrysler.

DaimlerChrysler CEO Dieter Zetsche was “grilled” at a shareholder’s meeting yesterday, for not moving fast enough to dispose of Chrysler, seen as a patient leeching off the profitable German half of the DaimlerChrysler supposed “merger of equals.”

Lawyer Hans-Richard Schmitz represented the shareholders and issued this statement on behalf of the shareholders: “Chrysler is the worst problem in the group. It has been a patient for so many years and a burden for some time. I dont understand why you are so hesitant. The only thing to do is execute a separation. You are underestimating how poisonous this pill can be for your company.”

Besides Schmitz, more shareholders came forward personally to criticize Zetsche during the meeting. “For nine years you have been sitting on this scrap heap called Chrysler. What have you been doing for nine years? Nobody has learned anything. To call this a sale is a euphemism. If you pay for the garbage man to empty the dust bin, then does that mean you have sold something to the garbage man?” said Ekkehard Wenger.

Previously Ekkehard Wenger and another shareholder Leonhard Knoll proposed a name change of the company back to DaimlerBenz because the name Chrysler brought a negative image to the company. DCX’s board responded by saying that was not a valid ground to change the name of the corporation.

Other shareholders have blamed the failed partnership on cultural differences. “Germans care about quality and technical expertise. Americans only want money. They dont care about the craftsmanship of the product. This is an arrangement that must end,” said Georg Nuemeier, also a DCX shareholder. “Ten years should have resulted in a better return. The fact is just that the marriage never worked,” said shareholder Klaus Fiereck.

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Shareholders want Chrysler name dropped from DaimlerChrysler

Two DaimlerChrysler Shareholders, Ekkehard Wenger and Leonhard Knoll have submitted a name change proposal to the DaimlerChrysler board of directors, detailing their wishes for the company to drop the name Chrysler regardless of whether Chrysler gets sold off or not. “If a proper separation cannot be effected within one year, this would only serve to underscore the need to remove this affliction on the image from the corporations name,” said Wenger and Knoll.

However DaimlerChrysler’s board opposes the change, saying there is no grounds for the name change proposal. “The DaimlerChrysler name is established all over the world. There are no grounds to change the name of the corporation,” the company said in a statement.

Nevertheless, a vote on the name change will be held at the shareholder’s meeting in April. DaimlerChrysler was previously known as Daimler-Benz until the merger with Chrysler in 1998. From what was supposed to be a merger of equals, Daimler-Benz ended up babysitting Chrysler through the years.

On the matter of who’ll Chrysler end up with, it seems that private equity groups are willing to pay alot more money than General Motors and automotive-related firm Magna International. The highest bid is currently at US$5 billion, while Magna is offering US$4 billion. Chrysler posted a US$1.5 billion loss last month.

However, employees do not want Chrysler to fall into the hands of a non-automotive owner. “We wouldn’t support a solution such as a private equity firm that would cut out choice bits. We prefer if a manufacturing company like another automaker take control of Chrysler in the event of a sale,” said Helmut Lense, one of the 10 employee representatives on DaimlerChrysler’s 20-member supervisory board.

Lense is also against the Chery deal. “Chrysler won’t improve its image by selling what are effectively Chinese cars,” he said. Lense also thinks a sell-off is not really necessary, as a revamp of Chrysler could be done by doing a total revamp of it’s passenger car model line-up. Chrysler has been over-reliant on truck sales, which have taken a downturn the past 2 years. One solution proposed would be for Chrysler to take over the Mercedes Benz A-Class and B-Class, leaving Mercedes to focus on more premium vehicles.