Daimler, Foton Agree to Form Chinese Truck Venture

Daimler and Foton, China’s biggest commercial-vehicle maker, will each own half of Beijing Foton Daimler Automotive Co., Foton said in a Shanghai stock exchange statement today. The partners will form the venture in August, start engine production in 2011 and begin making trucks in 2012.

The truckmakers have spent more than four years seeking a partnership, with earlier plans for an equity tie-up derailed by Daimler’s sale of Chrysler LLC. The German automaker, like General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., wants to boost sales in China to offset slumping demand in the U.S. and Europe.