Report: Chrysler to lose $1 billion in 2007

Put a fork in them, they're done.

They may be done or they may be shifting profits from the current year into next year at which point they will go public again on the strength of demonstrable profitable outlook.

Its a good thing Daimler AG dumped them before this loss is stuck to their financials.

It's amazing that before Daimler took them over, they were the most profitable American automaker. What a shame Daimler drove them in the ditch.

Everyone keeps accusing Daimler of bleeding them dry yet Daimler shares went up significantly once the bottomless Chrysler money pit was disposed of. It cost Daimler a fortune to dump Chrysler, probably much more than any money they may have sucked out of it. I note that Daimler kept nearly 20% of Chrysler so Chrysler shares must have some value to Daimler beyond a foot in the door to supply Mercedes diesels and other components to Chrysler.

gee, i wonder why a company doing so well would allow itself to get bought out? thats how well they were doin huh?

They spend $65 billion, then took in $64 billion. Now, obviously this is not a good thing, but doesn't seem to be a major loss when you look at it that way. If they could create a bit more demand for their vehicles, or reduce costs such as health care, or similar, they could quickly become profitable. Easily said. Seeing a 1 billion dollar loss seems huge until you look at the big picture. Regardless of their past, once they become profitable again, history will only be something to learn from.

That's not alot of money,GM lost about 34 million.

GM losses were of a different nature -- I believe they included a lot of quickly amortized writedowns which does not involve cash per se. In spite of some recent product bloopers (but they have more product winners like the CTS), I still predict that GM will ultimately be the only domestic manufacturer to survive. Given the current credit crunch and uncollectable debts out there, the sale of GMAC to raise cash was probably a good thing.

I mean 34 billion.

Since when? Not in one year. They will probably be profitable this year.

Well one of their basic problems is they have some really mediocare products out there.The Sebring/Avenger is not competative,the Compass was a joke,the Calibur is also not a great product.The 300 is still a good product but it's no longer the new kid on the block and therefore no longer the runaway success when it was launched.The Challenger can't come soon enough even if it's a halo car. The also need the Dodge Demon(Miata competitor).But Chrysler needs to rethink it's Meat and Potatoes cars-Calibur/Sebring/Avenger. Restyling,better suspensions,better engines,nicer interiors with better quality.There needs to be a concept car mentality to all of Chrysler. There is no "wow factor" in any of their cars.

I agree, their recent products suck! Daimler came out with one nice product (300C and Charger) then cut their budget and left them to die. Daimler was only concerned with their product. They simply wanted Chrysler to sell parts to and make themselves more profitable. They were so arrogant to think that just because Mercedes Benz has great brand equity that people would automatically buy Chryslers that had a few of their parts in them. All the great talent, particularly designers, fled Chrysler under their poor leadership and low corporate morale and went to other companies. The uninspired and compromised products you see now are a result of cost-cutting and less than top-notch talent.

ThierryHenry14,

A greedy Bob Eaton and is the reason Chrysler sold out. He got extremely rich from the deal and then bailed. Don't forget the lies about the "Merger of Equals" from Jurgen Shrimpp cocktail too! Corporate greed and ignorance on behalf of Chrysler shareholders got them in that mess. Lee Iaccoca acknowledges that Eaton was a mistake. He should have put Lutz in charge, but there wasn't enough room for both of their egos. Imagine where Chrysler would have been today if Lutz were running the show. They likely would have acquired another company themselves and probably would be in great shape.

I like Chrysler. Among the domestic automakers, they are the one that I would consider. They take chances and try to give the consumer what they want. As opposed to other carmakers that decide what the consumer wants.

As of now, Chrysler has the crappiest cars between the big three.

To all the haters...

NO, it's not Daimler's fault. It is most certainly Chrysler's fault. They had their own product lineup to consider and dropped the ball. They're bringing out useless model variants like it's nobody's business, and thinking they'll sell in huge numbers. If they were DECENT CARS, maybe, but NO. They all suck.

Jeep Patriot? Jeep Compass? Dodge Caliber? Doge Nitro? Dodge Journey? Dodge Avenger? Chrysler Sebring? Chrysler Aspen? All absolute CRAP, with the same nasty interiors and styling that exudes penny-pinching. Compare a Dodge Nitro to a VW Tiguan, or a Chrysler Sebring to a Honda Accord, and you'll see what I mean.

I am so disappointed in Chrysler. They could've done so much, but didn't. And the worst thing is, they knew what they were doing. They could've gotten away with this fifteen years ago. But now it's 2007. And people CARE. Nobody who knows anything about cars will consider a Chrysler until they are vastly improved.

Models they need to cut:
1. Jeep Compass
2. Jeep Patriot (there's already a Liberty!)
3. Dodge Nitro (Liberty!)
4. Dodge Avenger (Sebring!)
5. Chrysler Aspen (Durango!)
6. Dodge Journey (Pacifica!)
7. Chrysler Crossfire

Models that need improvement, but should stay in the lineup:
1. Chrysler Sebring
2. Dodge Caliber
3. Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger (keep the styling and performance, revise the interiors)
4. Jeep Liberty
5. Chrysler Pacifica
6. Dodge Durango
7. Dodge Magnum (DON'T drop it!)

I think I got just about all of the ones that need help or need to be dumped, which probably covers over half of the entire Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep lineup.

Note: the lists are in no particular order. Although, you could interpret them as the higher numbers needing more help than the lower ones.

Apparently, you didn't understand what I wrote earlier. Chrysler went down the crapper on Daimler's watch. Daimler cannot claim success with the 300c and Charger and then not take credit for the crap they are producing now. They owned and put their own management team in place went the current product decisions were made. They cut Chrysler to a shoestring budget and the best talent fled to other automakers. Much as I liked Deiter and Wolfgang, the Germans failed. They clearly cannot manage a mass-market automaker. When it comes to a low volume, cost-is-no-object product like Mercedes Benz, perhaps they know what they are doing. But hater or not, the so called "Merger of Equals" was Daimler's failure, because they were in the driver's seat.

Mercedes-Benz is hardly a low volume company. They produce inexpensive cars (A/B-Class) and sell over one million cars a year. The same apply to Audi and BMW.

I don't know what to say to that argument. There are no cement stats I can disprove it with. But it's hard to dispute the fact that Chrysler DID develop their latest inferior products. The Dodge Journey does not have much to do with any Mercedes-Benz.

Mercedes is low-volume, high-priced in comparison to low-price, high-volume manufacturers like Chrysler, GM, Ford, Toyota, etc. I don't dispute that Chrysler designed the current compromised vehicles. What you fail to acknowledge is that while these were designed, Daimler and Chrysler were one. Daimler pulled the strings that made these cars a reality. Germans were managaing the company. It's funny when Mercedes Benz vehicles were scraping the bottom of the JD power ratings, even lower than Chrysler briefly, than Benz fans were blaming Chrysler for their problems! You can't have it both ways. I just hope it isn't too late for the new owners to salvage Chrysler from the mess that Daimler put them in. For the Chrysler haters out there, I can't imagine why you'd want an American company to fail, unless you're not American. Let's give the new owners a chance to turn it around! By the way, how can one criticize the Dodge Journey already when it hasn't even been produced yet?