DaimlerChrysler has put more of its money and its mouth into the TAG McLaren Group Formula One racing effort by purchasing a 40 percent stake in the operation, exercising options issued last year. Ron Dennis and TAG Group S.A., who will continue to be in charge of operational management control, own stakes of 30 percent each. No purchase price was announced in the private deal.

The move ups the ante for the Mercedes-Benz stake in McLaren International F1 effort. McLaren is one of the most successful teams in Formula One, having won eight Formula One Constructors' World Championships and a record 11 Drivers' World Championships, including Mika Hakkinen's title last year.

The announcement follows the earlier decision by DaimlerChrysler and McLaren Cars Ltd. to develop the Mercedes-McLaren SLR super sports car jointly and bring it to the market in 2003. In conjunction with this project, the two partners will invest in the development and production of the SLR, as well as in the construction of a new production facility as part of the new TAG McLaren corporate headquarters near Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom.

It made little sense for McLaren to build a supercar of its own, when its race team was so closely associated with one of the premier motor car companies in the world.

As Juergen Hubbert, DaimlerChrysler member board of management responsible for the Mercedes-Benz and smart passenger car business, said, "The investment in TAG McLaren is the result of our increasingly close and mutually beneficial cooperation in Formula One and in other areas. It forms a part of DaimlerChrysler's long-term strategy of maintaining Mercedes-Benz's leadership in engineering performance, technological edge and brand image in the face of increasingly stiff competition. It also ties in with our strategic orientation toward developing the sporting accents of the Mercedes-Benz brand, initiated with the decision to acquire a majority interest in AMG."

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