Mercedes 2002 Annual Report Download - page 53

Services |47
Expanded activities in Asia
As part of its activities to support DaimlerChrysler’s
long-term strategy, the Services division also expanded
its business operations in Asia last year. In order to gain
a solid foothold in Asia’s second-largest automobile
market, we established a leasing and sales-financing
company in South Korea. We also opened up a liaison
office in China, a market which we view as having
enormous growth potential.
Moreover, by concentrating essential management
functions for the United States, Canada and Mexico as
well as brand-financing activities at our new North
American headquarters in Farmington Hills, Michigan,
DaimlerChrysler Services will be able to operate even
more efficiently in this region in the future.
Refocus on the core automotive business
With the sale of its remaining shares in T-Systems ITS
and parts of Capital Services’ non-automotive portfolio,
DaimlerChrysler Services virtually completed the refo-
cus of its operations on the core automotive business.
The non-automotive items sold included commercial
real estate and the asset-based-lending business.
In addition, an agreement was reached on the transfer
of Capital Services’ business-jet activities in the
United States.
The cash flow generated through the sale of parts
of the Capital Services portfolio will be used to further
strengthen our sales-financing business. Daimler-
Chrysler Services also plans to extend its leading
position in the fleet-management sector.
Successful launch of deposit-banking business
After acquiring a full banking license, the Daimler-
Chrysler Bank significantly expanded its range of ser-
vices in Germany beginning on July 1, 2002. Its product
portfolio now consists of money-market accounts, sav-
ings plans, fixed-interest savings plans, and credit cards
with the attractive RoadMiles rewards program. In the
first six months, more than 50,000 customers made
deposits totaling almost 1800 million – even better than
the goals we had set ourselves. With a 30% share of non
Group customers, DaimlerChrysler Bank has succeeded
in substantially expanding the customer base for vehicle
sales. DaimlerChrysler Bank’s money-market account
(3.6% interest rate; without any restrictions on the
amount deposited) offered extremely attractive terms in
the German deposit market at the end of 2002. The
bank’s fixed-interest accounts have terms ranging from
two to six years. In addition, the RoadMiles rewards
program offers customers bonus points not only for pur-
chases made with the DaimlerChrysler and Mercedes
credit cards, but also when they make investments
through the DaimlerChrysler Bank. These points can be
redeemed for attractive merchandise items.
Contract awarded for satellite-based toll system
In September 2002, the Toll Collect consortium, in
which DaimlerChrysler Services has a 45% interest, was
awarded a contract by the German government for
the construction and operation of a satellite-based toll
system for trucks over twelve metric tons in Germany.
The system is scheduled to go into operation in August
2003, and the operator contract is to run for twelve
years. Annual revenues of 1500 million are projected.
With Toll Collect, Germany will obtain one of the
world’s most modern and intelligent systems for collect-
ing road tolls. Toll Collect is based on innovative satellite
and mobile-radio technologies. As this flexible system
can be adapted to other countries’ specific needs, Daimler-
Chrysler Services plans to tender for toll-collection
systems in various other European countries and also
in Asia.