A proposal made by two major shareholders calls for Daimler Chrysler to consider a name change — possibly back to Daimler-Benz — in an effort to disassociate it from the “failure” of the Chrysler Group.
“Maintaining a corporate name that evokes associations with the failure of the business combination with Chrysler is detrimental to the image of the corporation and its products,” the proposal by two key German investors reads.
Shareholders will vote on the name change in April, with the option of deferring the change until the Chrysler Group is sold or spun-off. The document specifies March 31, 2008 as the latest possible date for a name change. It seems to suggest there’s a good chance the company will split up before that date:
“The Board of Management is authorized to defer notification of the change of name for entry in the Commercial Register until the Chrysler Group is separated from the Group or sold, but not later than March 31, 2008.”
If a separation does not occur, DaimlerChrysler should go ahead with the re-branding anyway, the proposal suggests:
“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 corporation’s name,” the shareholders said.
The document even contains specific examples of names used to mock the failed merger:
“Unflattering nicknames such as Doting Daimler, Daimler-Crisis or even Crime-ler have long been in circulation,” the document reads. “The disadvantages this entails for shareholders, customers and employees can only be borne at most for a short transition period until there is a proper separation from Chrysler.”
