Chrysler and Mercedes still plan on sharing

As we told you last week, it looks like Chrysler and Daimler might still be capable of playing nice. Despite Daimler unceremoniously dumping the Chrysler group earlier this year, Daimler and Chrysler will apparently still share a lot of business side relationships that make economic sense for both firms. Now we have word that the two also seem to be committed to sharing technology on future projects.
Frank Klegon, Chrysler's executive vice president of product development, says that a joint operating board will be set up between the two companies, with each company getting three members. The sharing will revolve around things like electrical architectures, SUV chassis components, active safety systems, Bluetec diesel technology and fuel cells. Where the old plan was to share the development of these technologies on a wide scale, the revised plan is to be more focused, working on a "project-by-project basis." Actually the development of the electrical architecture, in particular, was already underway and sharing therefore makes sense at least for its first applications in 2011 or 2012. One point raised in the article is that this sharing board won't stop Chrysler from being able to work with other manufacturers too, if it so chooses.

[Source: Automotive News, sub. req.]