HYUNDAI Motor Co, South Korea's biggest auto maker, halted talks with DaimlerChrysler AG about forming an engine-making joint venture in China, as the plan didn't offer enough incentives, the firm said yesterday.
"We don't see much potential benefit from the deal," Jake Jang, a spokesman for the Seoul-based company, said by phone. The auto makers halted the discussions around the end of last year, he added, according to Bloomberg News.
DaimlerChrysler's Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche said that the Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker is in talks with Hyundai Motor to build an engine plant in China, the Korean-language Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported yesterday. DaimlerChrysler made the proposal last year, Jang said.
The German carmaker's Dodge unit sells Caliber crossover vehicles equipped with engines that use Hyundai Motor technology. DaimlerChrysler sold its 10.5 percent stake in Hyundai Motor in 2004 and scrapped plans to jointly build trucks and buses in South Korea.
Hyundai Motor is building its second auto plant in China to double its annual output to 600,000 vehicles by 2008.
