MTU Drive Shafts, a DaimlerChrysler company and manufacturer of passenger-car drive shafts, is expanding its business in the North American market with the creation of a new U.S. subsidiary and manufacturing operation, MTU Drive Shafts LLC, based in Charleston, S.C. The Charleston plant, which will have a capacity for about one million drive shafts annually, will produce drive shafts for premium automotive companies in the U.S. The machinery necessary for the production--assembly and balancing machines, welders and others--will be installed beginning in April 2003, with series production starting in 2004. By 2006, the company plans to employ over 200 workers who will work in three shifts.