Daimler Shops for Michigan Property, Tax Incentives
By Michelle Krebs March 18, 2009DETROIT -- German automaker Daimler AG plans to locate an engineering center near Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the University of Michigan, to develop hybrid technology, if it receives tax incentives and finds suitable property, state and local officials say.
The subsidiary, to be called Mercedes-Benz Hybrid LLC, would employ about 223 engineers and technicians and would receive tax credits valued at $7.5 million over 10 years.
Daimler already is involved in a cooperative with General Motors and BMW in the Detroit suburbs to develop two-mode hybrid technology, already used in GM's full-size SUVs, the Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon, and in its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. It will be offered in upcoming BMW and Mercedes-Benz SUVs.
The technology also was used in Chrysler's Dodge Durango and Chrysler Aspen, vehicles the troubled automaker immediately dropped after their introduction last fall.
The state of Michigan, which competed against a number of other states for the Daimler facility and has lost hundreds of thousands of auto jobs in recent years, considers nabbing the German hybrid subsidiary a huge get as it tries to leverage its technical and engineering resources to become a center for hybrid and electric-vehicle technology.
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