Print

Mail

wiki links

Profit drop won't `break' us: Chrysler

DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler will survive even if it doesn't increase profit this year, Dieter Zetsche, chief executive of the unit, said in reaction to a Barron's article that this will be a "make-or-break" year for the automaker.

Chrysler has accumulated US$4.4 billion of losses since Zetsche announced in 2001 a three-year plan to return to profit. Zetsche has said the unit may have had a "slight" profit last year, short of a US$2 billion goal.

"There is no make or break year," Zetsche told reporters following a speech at a national convention of car dealers in Las Vegas.

"If we do somewhat better on the bottom line, we'll all be very happy. We're working very hard to accomplish that. If we do a little worse, this will be a disappointment, but not a break," he said.

Three years of cost cutting, quality improvements and product development "comes to fruition" this year, Zetsche said.

Chrysler is introducing nine new models this year in the US that will represent 60 percent of its volume as it seeks to increase sales, he said.

Today's Barron's article reported that investors also are worried that Chrysler is pulling cash for product development away from DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz brand.

"The facts clearly make that a not very smart statement," Zetsche said.

"We finance all of our long-range product spending and all of our spending altogether out of our own cash flow," he said, referring to the Chrysler unit.
This story has been viewed 1449 times.