Daimler won't change U.S. leasing strategy: CEO
PARIS (Reuters) - Daimler AG will not change its leasing strategy in the U.S. market even though it may take an earnings hit from a drop in the prices of cars coming off lease, Daimler Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said.
"We've already learned from some bad experiences in the past, so we've been relatively conservative with our leasing business," Zetsche said at the Paris auto show on Thursday.
"This does not preclude possible losses -- we might learn some more -- but we will not change our basic leasing strategy," he told reporters.
Zetsche declined comment when asked whether or when the company might reach an agreement to sell its remaining 19.9 percent stake in U.S. automaker Chrysler LLC to Chrysler's majority owner, private equity firm Cerberus.
He declined to go into details on what financial risks to Daimler remained from its exposure to Chrysler, which like other U.S. carmakers has struggled to handle a sharp market downturn.
"We have published certain figures on our risks. It's a matter of math," he said, declining further comment.
Zetsche reiterated that he continues to expect 2008 vehicle sales at Daimler's Mercedes-Benz Cars premium division to exceed the level seen in 2007.
"We did relatively well in September, despite significant car market declines," he said.
Daimler's shares turned briefly positive after the comments but were trading down 0.8 percent at 32.13 percent by 1216 GMT, outperforming a 1.4 percent drop in the DJ Stoxx index of European automobile shares.
(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner via Frankfurt newsroom; Editing by Quentin Bryar)
