IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Daimler favors assistance

Daimler AG joined Italian and French carmakers favoring financial assistance from European governments to develop environmentally friendly automobiles as sales slump, the Financial Times Deutschland said.

Mercedes car unit Chief Operating Officer Rainer Schmueckle said "of course I wouldn't reject it", the newspaper reported in an article published yesterday. New technologies are expensive, Schmueckle reportedly said. When car sales plummet, the government loses revenue from value-added tax, he added.