DAIMLER AG

Fiat and Chrysler announced on Tuesday they signed an agreement for a strategic alliance in which Italy's car maker will have a 35 percent stake in Chrysler. The non-cash deal would give the troubled U.S. carmaker access to Fiat's products.

India's top IT services provider, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), said it has bagged a multi-year contract from US-based automaker Chrysler LLC to provide maintenance on mainframes and servers and support computer applications.

Daimler AG Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche does not expect the U.S. economy to contract as a result of high oil prices and the real estate crisis. The CEO also rebutted Wednesday's market speculation that Cerberus, which bought an 80 percent stake in Chrysler from Daimler earlier this year, had called on the German carmaker to extend a $1.5 billion loan.

Chrysler LLC's recent decision to cut up to 10,000 factory jobs and slash production in North America tested the credibility of the automaker's new private equity owner, the head of the Canadian Auto Workers said on Tuesday.

Ballard Power Systems, the Vancouver producer of hydrogen fuel cells, said it agreed to sell its automotive-fuel-cell business to Daimler AG of Germany and Ford Motor Co. of Dearborn, Mich. As payment, Ballard will receive the 34.3 million of its shares that Daimler and Ford hold.

Workers represented by the United Auto Workers ratified a four-year contract with automaker Chrysler LLC, the union said on Saturday, capping a close-fought battle that had threatened to scuttle the labor pact.

The United Auto Workers union and automaker Chrysler LLC remained locked in contract talks on Wednesday morning just hours before a strike deadline set by the union that could trigger the industry's second major work stoppage in as many weeks.

With just over a day remaining until a strike deadline, representatives of the United Auto Workers union and Chrysler LLC bargained into Tuesday morning in a bid to reach a new contract for some 49,000 U.S. factory workers.

Negotiators from Chrysler LLC and the United Auto Workers were set to resume contract talks on Monday after the union set a deadline for wrapping up negotiations this week. The struggling No. 3 U.S. automaker has been given a 72-hour strike notice by the UAW as they negotiate a new labor agreement, a person familiar with the talks said on Monday.

Chrysler has lured another high-profile executive, this time from Asia, into its ranks on Friday, following a similar move a day earlier as the company seeks to revive its struggling operations.

Chrysler added Toyota's top American executive to its ranks on Thursday, hiring James Press as its new vice-Chairman and President in a bid to steer the newly private, but struggling company as it attempts a comeback.

Chrysler LLC has named longtime Toyota Motor Corp North American executive Jim Press as a new vice chairman and president.

DaimlerChrysler left investors guessing about plans to return excess cash to shareholders as the German carmaker reported second-quarter operating profits on Wednesday in line with market expectations.

DaimlerChrysler has paved the way to rename itself Daimler AG by striking a deal with Ford Motor Co to use the name now owned by British brand Jaguar, the companies said on Wednesday.

Chrysler LLC, the struggling No. 3 U.S. automaker purchased by private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, is expected to return to profit within three years, Cerberus chairman John Snow said.

Robert Nardelli, who was named to head Chrysler LLC on Monday by its new owner Cerberus Capital Management, declined to detail his compensation package, but said it would be tied to the automaker's progress in its turnaround. Nardelli was widely criticized for a pay and severance package seen as excessive during his term as chief executive of retailer Home Depot Inc.

DaimlerChrysler AG said on Friday it had completed the sale of an 80 percent stake in its U.S. unit, Chrysler Group, to private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management.

Chrysler Corp. on Wednesday postponed its $12 billion auto loan deal, while Chrysler Financial Services sweetened the pricing on $6 billion of term loans for the second time, market sources told Reuters Loan Pricing Corp.

Chrysler Group Chief Executive Tom LaSorda on Friday said that the closing of a $7.4-billion deal for the acquisition of a majority interest in the automaker from German parent DaimlerChrysler AG is 'very, very close.'

DaimlerChrysler shares fell more than 2 percent on Wednesday on market talk of possible financing difficulties for the sale of U.S. carmaking arm Chrysler to Cerberus, traders said, but Daimler said it was not aware of any difficulties.

Chrysler Group, owner of the Jeep and Dodge brands, reported Tuesday that June sales dropped on continuing slower sales of its larger vehicles.