Toyota rejects Chrysler takeover talk

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Japanese carmaker Toyota Motor Corp said Wednesday it has no interest in buying German-U.S. auto giant DaimlerChrysler, dismissing speculation about a possible takeover.

"Toyota is not considering buying the DaimlerChrysler group or even buying any part of it or a stake in the group," a spokeswoman said. "Toyota has no such interest."

The comments came after a slide in DaimlerChrysler shares following losses at its Chrysler unit prompted talk that it was seeking advice on ways to head off a possible takeover bid.

Industry sources said only Toyota would have the resources to launch such a bid for DaimlerChrysler. But Toyota, the world's third-biggest carmaker, has long trodden a lone path and avoided getting into alliances.

Speculation "off the wall"

Graeme Maxton, automotive analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, dismissed the Toyota speculation as "off the wall."

"Japanese companies don't tend to make hostile bids, and German companies don't tend to welcome hostile bids if anybody ever does (make one)," he told CNN.

Maxton said it was possible that one of the stronger European car companies such as Volkswagen, Renault or Peugeot might be interested in DaimlerChrysler, as might U.S. rivals General Motors Corp or Ford Motor Co.

"The trouble is that the company is in so much difficulty right now," he said. "Chrysler is losing more than $1 billion every three months, and so anybody to want to take that on -- they'd have to be almost mad at this point."

He said a predator would be better advised to wait a few months to see what happens at DaimlerChrysler.

Christopher Richter, an analyst at HSBC Securities, also said such an alliance seemed far-fetched.

"I think it's unlikely, and that would be very uncharacteristic of Toyota," he said. Richter said the two companies have many areas in which they overlap in both sales and operations, and Toyota's luxury cars, such as Lexus, are very competitive in international markets.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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