FRANKFURT, Germany: For North Americans it wasn't the hardware or even the software displayed at the motor show here that was the most immediately interesting (though we'll cover those in a moment), it was the wetware.
Wetware as in things pertaining to the human brain and how they work. Specifically, it was fascinating to examine the wetware of the folks at DaimlerChrysler on the home field of the European half of German-American Motors.
Though the dust on this amalgamation / merger / takeover / blending / whatever is still a long way from completely settling, it looks like it's going a lot better than a lot of observers thought it would.
And not just better from a corporate balance sheet kind of way (though it's certainly a success there), but from a folks-to-volks kind of way as well. Staffers from Auburn Hills had just as much right to use the media café in the classic Mercedes-Benz display hall as did the people from Stuttgart, and they did.
Sure, there was a slight sense of not wanting to step on a new roommate's sensitivities and some good-natured laughter at cultural differences (what North American wouldn't smile upon hearing about a woman who pronounces the final letter in Dr. Funke?), but on balance the worker bee Yanks seemed to feel quite welcome in the Fatherland.
The formal face of DaimlerChrysler was even more resolutely bi-partisan as much effort was taken to push both halves of the whole and the big PR splash was reserved for the Chrysler-wrought Java concept car half of the firm's small car strategy, the other being the not-so-successful Mercedes Smart two-seat urban vehicle.