Volkswagen: DaimlerChrylser denies plans for stake in Volkswagen

DaimlerChrysler denied press reports that it was planning to buy into rival Volkswagen and make a deal involving possible cross-shareholdings. We reported about this on Saturday.

"We will not take any Volkswagen shares," said a DaimlerChrysler spokesman after the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) said the two car makers were talking about the possibility of acquiring cross-shareholdings.

The FAZ said the German-US giant could acquire a 10-percent stake of Volkswagen while the Wolfsburg-based company would take 6.9 percent of DaimlerChrysler shares which are currently being held by Deutsche Bank.

The spokesman said that the two companies had disccused a possible tie-up for years but added that the talks had come to nothing.

The DaimlerChrysler spokesman said Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler had a number of projects for cooperation but would not give details.

Die Welt newspaper said Saturday that DaimlerChrysler was mulling whether to have the next Smart, the ForFour, manufactured by Volkswagen. The Forfour is to be presented to the public in 2009.

The Smart is currently being made in the Netherlands in a joint venture with Japanese automaker Mitsubishi.

The paper said assembly lines for VW's Fox, Polo and Golf could possibly be used for the Forfour.