DaimlerChrysler's Chief Has Armored Mercedes Stolen

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=aRaEXeRubjHc Bloomberg DaimlerChrysler's Chief Has Armored Mercedes Stolen Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- DaimlerChrysler AG Chief Executive Officer Juergen Schrempp had his S600 Mercedes-Benz armored limousine stolen while it was parked on a street in Stuttgart, the German city in which the carmaker is based. The black company car, which is worth about 800,000 euros ($1 million), disappeared on the night of Oct. 26, police spokesman Klaus-Peter Arand said in a telephone interview. The limousine, which sports a 12-cylinder engine and is equipped with a broadcasting device to help retrieve the car, hasn't yet been found, the police said. Schrempp, 60, has been CEO of DaimlerChrysler since 1995. Hartmut Schick, a spokesman for the world's fifth-largest carmaker, confirmed the theft without giving details. The S600 is the top limousine with the Mercedes brand. The cheapest version of the car costs 129,398 euros, according to the company's Web site. The stolen vehicle had bullet-proof windows, ``finger-thick'' steel plates as part of its chassis as well as tires designed to keep it running even when flat, Bild-Zeitung reported today. The car was probably stolen by the ``Russian mafia,'' the German newspaper said, citing an unidentified investigator. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'