During a press conference held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart this morning, Dr. Thomas Weber, the head of research and development for Mercedes-Benz, announced that Daimler is buying a 10% stake in Tesla Motors. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was also on hand for the announcement. The companies did not specify the amount paid by Daimler, other than it was in the double digit millions. Daimler will be providing Tesla with engineering support and possibly parts that may go into the Model S. Tesla, meanwhile, will continue providing battery packs for the second-generation Smart ED starting later this year. Tesla will also focus on battery pack integration and battery management systems for Daimler going forward.

The deal will also give Tesla access to the automotive lithium ion cells being produced by Daimler's investment in Li-Tec, a joint venture between Evonik and Daimler. Weber announced that Daimler would commence series production of electric Smarts in 2012, with volume projections in the five digits.

Daimler's Prof. Herbert Kohler (who is in charge of e-drive systems at the German automaker) will take up a board seat at Tesla and oversee development at the California company. We live blogged the conference at AutoblogGreen this morning and the official press release is after the jump.

[Source: Daimler]