No big sellers in sight to save troubled Chrysler [View All]

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By TOM KRISHER

DETROIT (AP) - In crises past, Chrysler has somehow managed to stamp out a blockbuster hit vehicle to pull itself away from the cliff's edge.

But as it faces a possible sale to another automaker and what may be the most serious problems in its 83-year history, industry analysts say there's nothing in the current product portfolio that looks like a savior.


Unsold 2008 Wranglers sit at a Chrysler-Jeep dealership in the north Denver suburb of Thornton, Colo., on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. The smallest of Detroit's three automakers, once-brash Chrysler took risks and gained big rewards for vehicles like its hit 300 full-size sedan in 2005. The company invented the minivan when it introduced the Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan in 1984, and the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries "K-car" sedans of 1982 helped earn the money to repay $1.5 billion in government-guaranteed loans former Chairman Lee Iacocca secured to save Chrysler from going under in 1980. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)


Chrysler's U.S. sales are down 25 percent through September, the worst decline of any major automaker. Losses are mounting: well over $1 billion for the first half of the year. Things are so bad that Chrysler LLC wants to shed a quarter of its salaried work force, and its owner, Cerberus Capital Management LP, is talking with General Motors Corp. (GM) (GM) and others about a sale.

Of Chrysler's 26 models on sale in both 2007 and 2008, only four have sold more this year than last, and three of those are small-volume niche vehicles such as the Dodge Viper. The company's market share has dwindled from 16.2 percent in 1996 to 11 percent this year, according to Ward's AutoInfoBank.


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