"The cooperation between Daimler - Chrysler and Southeast Motor Corp. is going on normally, now the cooperation work has already entered the approving stage at present, and would produce the light passenger car on the Southeast base in 2005", Mr. Lin GuoMing, the general manager of Southeast Motor Corporation revealed while interviewed by reporter at the national media test-drive meeting of Southeast Lioncel that Shanghai held.

At the beginning of this year, the official of Southeast Motor Corp. has revealed that Daimler - Chrysler will cooperate with southeast probably, and this news receives the strong concern inside and outside the automobile industry once spreading. But in September after Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Corp and Daimler - Chrysler contract formally, the media think generally that the fond dream of forming an alliance between Daimler - Chrysler and Southeast Motor Corp. has already evaporated. However, Mr. Lin GuoMing, the general manager expresses that the cooperation of Daimler - Chrysler with Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Corp is main in the two fields of Mercedes-Benz car and Mercedes-Benz heavy trucks, and the cooperation with southeast is in the field of light passenger car, the two are not contradictory, now Daimler - Chrysler has only one cooperative partner -- Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings Corp in China, so the cooperation with southeast does not violate the relevant policies of China either.

But why can Daimler - Chrysler choose the Southeast Motor Corporation, the company who does not possess the strong strength to cooperate? Mr. Lin Guoming explained that because Daimler - Chrysler and southeast have origin relations indirectly above all. Southeast Motor Corp, which is a joint venture between Fujian Automotive Industry Corp in the mainland's Fujian Province and Zhonghua Motor Corp in Taiwan Province, Each of Zhonghua, 25 per cent owned by Mitsubishi, and the Fujian auto firm, has a 50 per cent stake in Southeast, so Mitsubishi controls a 12.5 per cent share of Southeast indirectly, and German-US auto giant Daimler-Chrysler AG, which controls a 37.3 per cent share of Mitsubishi, so Daimler-Chrysler has certain relations with the southeast indirectly through Mitsubishi; secondly, the Southeast Motor Corp. has earned the support on the state policies for southeast too as the special background of the first automobile joint ventures of both sides of the Straits, This is what Daimler-Chrysler value too; thirdly, the fast developments of Southeast Motor Corp. over the past several years let Daimler-Chrysler see the potentialities of Southeast. The first-phase investment of Southeast Motor Corp is only 60 million dollars, produced 5000 Delica coaches in that year after going into operation in 1999, and it reaches to 18,000 units the second year, up from 47,000 units last year, the output has increased by more than 9 times over the past 3 years. The output of this year will up to 80,000 units and the profit will be RMB 700 million.

Southeast will introduce Benz VITO light passenger car, it is forecast to produce in Fuzhou in the year of 2005, according to Lin Guoming, the general manager of Southeast.