DaimlerChrysler to give execs only three-year terms

Reuters, STUTTGART, Germany -- DaimlerChrysler will in future give top executives only three-year contract extensions rather than its standard five-year deals, the German-American carmaker said today.

"The supervisory board has decided to award as a rule a term of only three years when renewing the contracts of members of the management board," a spokesman said, citing efforts to improve corporate governance standards.

Most companies in Germany extend senior managers' contracts by five years at a time, and CEO Dieter Zetsche just had his deal renewed until 2010.

New members of the executive board normally got three-year contracts, and even that was longer than the terms many U.S. companies give their top managers.

Tests of the new standard may come later this year as the world's fifth-biggest carmaker decides on extensions for corporate development head Ruediger Grube and trucks division boss Andreas Renschler, whose contracts expire in 2007.

The spokesman would not say whether the new rules that took effect in August will apply to those two current members