19.10.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L282/23 COMMISSION DECISION of 20 December 2001 on the State aid which Germany is planning to implement for DaimlerChrysler AG in Kolleda (notified under document number C(2001) 4480) (Only the German text is authentic) (Text with EEA relevance) (2002/781/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Com- munity, and in particular the first subparagraph of Article 88(2) thereof, Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, and in particular Article 62(1)(a) thereof, Having called on interested parties to submit their comments pursuant to those provisions (1), Whereas: Procedure Germany notified the aid proposal to the Commission on 29 March 2001. The Commission asked for additional information by letter dated 17 May, to which Germany replied by letter dated 8 June. By letter dated 30 July 2001, the Commission informed Germany that it had decided to initiate the procedure laid down in Article 88(2) of the EC Treaty in respect of the aid. The Commission decision to initiate the procedure was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (2). The Commission called on interested parties to submit their comments on the aid. It received no comments from interested parties. By letters dated 22 August and 5 November 2001, Germany submitted comments on the initiation of the investigation procedure. (1) 0JC263,19.9.2001, p. 13. (2) See footnote 1. ) Detailed description DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation are planning the joint production of a small car platform, or Z-platform, aimed at the small passenger car segment, where the competition includes the VW Polo, the VW Lupo and the Toyota Yaris. Production of the vehicles will take place in the NedCar plant in Born (Netherlands) for the European markets and in a Mitsubishi plant in Japan for the Japanese and Asian markets. For the production of the petrol engines for the European Z-car vehicles DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation plan to set up a completely new plant. The project is expected to create some 500 new jobs. On completion of the project, installed engine production capacity in Kolleda will be 300 000 engines per year, of which 200 000 will be delivered to the NedCar plant and 100 000 to Japan. The beneficiary of the aid would be DaimlerChrysler AG. With the establishment in 2003 of a new 50| 50 joint venture between DaimlerChrysler AG and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation that will manage the engine production plant, all the investments and aid will be transferred to this new company. According to the notification, the total amount of investment is EUR 243,9 million (net present value: EUR 220,4 million), of which EUR 207,3 million (net present value: EUR 185 million) represents eligible costs. The total planned aid amounts to EUR 72,6 million (net present value: EUR 63,8 million). Germany stated that the project does not involve first-tier component sup- pliers within the meaning of the framework for State aid to the motor vehicle industry.