After revealing JIT bailout bait (i.e. three potential electric vehicles), Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli had a “confidential” chin wag with his dealers. Needless to say, the bottom line was the bottom line. According to sources blabbing to The Wall Street Journal [via Reuters], Nardelli told ChryCo store owners that the corporate mothership had lost $400m year-to-date. Boot ‘Em Bob added that sales fell 24 percent through August and Chrysler had $11 billion in cash. I’m not sure where Nardelli got his 24 percent figure from, nor the $400m red ink stain, or the $11b in cash reserves. But the fact that the official spokesman declared that Chrysler’s “not in the black on a net basis” leads me to wonder if the books have been set on low or medium heat. Just sayin’… Oh, and Chrysler owner Cerberus says it lost $1.6b so far this year. For a company generating a self-proclaimed “$100 billion in annual revenues,” that’s chicken feed. Still, to paraphrase the old Midas Mufflers’ commercial, “How do you think a company like that got to be a company like that?”
12 Comments on “Chrysler CEO Nardelli: We’ve Lost $400m So Far This Year...”
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Unless Cryco just started a new fiscal year, I am not buying the “we lost $400 million y-t-d” business.
Now, I might possibly consider “we lost $400 million more y-t-d” than we expected do, but even then, I am dubious, More like “we are losing $400 million per month y-t-d”. Yeah, that I would buy.
Bruce
I’m with becurb on that one. Ford and GM’s losses are far superior, and Chrysler sales figures are actually worse than the other Detroit automakers.
Unless Chrysler squeezed their suppliers and workers so hard that there’s no orange juice left…
That’s not bad. It’s actually impressive considering they lost, what, $1.7 Billion last year?
If they lost $1.7 billion last year and sales are down as much as they are this year that only $400 million lost line is a “crock of shit”.
Nardelli’s nose must be longer than those lines of Dodge Rams sitting unsold on dealers’ lots.
One more person who can’t believe that Chrysler has only lost $400M this year. I know that they are smaller than Ford or GM, but they are also experiencing an even larger decline in sales; so, it is very hard to swallow that their losses are less than 10% of what Ford and GM losses apparently are for the year.
Breaking news: Daimler has confirmed that it is in negotiation to sell its remaining 19.9% share in Chrysler. Deal to probably close in next few weeks.
Rats, sinking ships et al…
I’m betting Cerberus makes a killing on the Chrysler deal – primarily via the US taxpayers contribution.
Maybe Chrysler is some sort of tax shelter for Cerberus, and the “only lost $400 million” included the tax benefits of such.
Is the punchline the total number of cars Cerebrus sold to the poor schleps not bright enough to shop around?
Audited financial statements or it didn’t happen.
I don’t know. Since CLLC started using Play-Doh in place of the rear axle and crushed Lego’s for the dash, costs are down sharply. So even with the drop in sales they might be only down $400,000,000 YTD.
Or their fiscal started Sep 1.
Or Both.