Proton Tiara, was launched in April 1996. Further plans were made for a second, Saxo-based model, and DRB had invested in additional plant capacity to accommodate future exports. However, the three-way joint venture suffered multiple complications and setbacks, including the loss of then HICOM chairman Yahaya Ahmad in 1997, and the subsequent Asian financial crisis. Production of the Tiara ceased in late 1999, but AMM continued to produce other Mitsubishi-based, Proton-badged vehicles up to the mid 2000s. By late 2000, Proton had fully acquired USPD, and the company was subsequently renamed Proton Edar. By the dawn of the 2000s, AMM had taken on contract assembly for additional companies. In October 2001, AMM entered into a contract assembly agreement with Naza, the appointed Kia Motors franchise holder in Malaysia. Naza had sought to temporarily utilise AMM's facilities while construction of their own plant in Gurun took place. Under the agreement with Naza, the AMM plant produced the Kia Spectra, Pregio and K2700, as well as Naza-badged vehicles such as the Ria and Sutera up to the mid 2000s. By the 2010s, assembly of Kia and Naza vehicles had been fully relocated to the Naza Automotive Manufacturing plant. The AMM plant had also assembled SsangYong vehicles under another contract agreement with Competitive Supreme (CSSB). By the mid 2000s, the Pekan automotive complex had taken on assembly of Mercedes-Benz vehicles through a joint venture between DaimlerChrysler Malaysia (DCM) and Malaysian Truck & Bus (MTB). DaimlerChrysler Malaysia was a 51:49 joint venture between DaimlerChrysler AG, which owned Mercedes-Benz, and Cycle & Carriage Bintang (CCB), the long-standing Mercedes-Benz franchise holder in Malaysia. Prior to the MTB and DCM joint venture, Mercedes-Benz vehicles were assembled concurrently at two different plants, namely Asia Automobile Industries in Petaling Jaya and Oriental Assemblers in Tampoi. To better coordinate logistics and quality control, Mercedes-Benz had sought to consolidate their Malaysian assembly operations at a single plant. Thus, in May 2004, Mercedes-Benz approached MTB through its subsidiary, DCM, and plans were made to shift Malaysian assembly of future Mercedes-Benz vehicles to the MTB plant. DCM did not acquire an equity stake in MTB, but it was nonetheless allowed to operate autonomously, as Mercedes-Benz vehicles would be assembled on dedicated assembly lines, and only the paint shops would be shared with other companies at MTB and AMM. The first Mercedes-Benz cars from the DCM and MTB joint venture rolled off the assembly