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As the DaimlerChrysler merger nears, the U.S. automaker's financing arm is on an upi-pd tack highlighted by all-time record earnings and retail financing penetration.
Chrysler Financial (CFC) finished the first half of 1998 "in great organizational and financial shape," Chairman Darrell L. Davis told Ward's Dealer Business in his office atop the American Center skyscraper where the former American Motors Corp. once was headquartered in Southfield, MI.
That location could be quite symbolic. Chrysler Corp.'s acquisition of AMC in 1987 brought to Chrysler Financial John Tierney, AMC's highly regarded chief financial officer. He oversaw a merger of AMC's financial arm with the Chrysler subsidiary. Now retired, Mr. Tierney became CFC chairman, using the office AMC chairmen had occupied before and CFC chiefs later.
An unanswered question as yet - with Daimler-Benz and its Mercedes-Benz of North America organization linking up with Chrysler Corp. on Jan. 1- is this:
Will the same "synergies" embraced by the two corporations bring together Mercedes-- Benz Credit Corp. and CFC?
Like Chrysler Corp. Chairman Robert J. Eaton and the company's executive...