Although Chrysler has had its fair share of difficulties, you wouldn’t know it by asking Fiat SpA and Chrysler Group LLC CEO Sergio Marchionne. Not only did he assure journalists ahead of the New York Auto Show that Chrysler was making money, but more recently he said that the restructuring efforts that are underway there are already producing “positive results.”
Showing confidence in the automaker’s slow, but consistence process of turning Chrysler around, Marchionne is feeling better how the automaker’s outlook now than a year ago.
“In terms of the market share numbers coming out of the U.S., it’s a slow, gradual process, a re-making exercise. You need to give it time,” Marchionne said at a conference in Parma, Italy.
While Marchionne says the outlook is positive, Chrysler’s sales tell a different story. In the first quarter of 2010, Chrysler’s domestic sales fell about 5 percent, during a time when other automakers were reporting substantial sales increases. In a desperate attempt to maintain foot traffic in showrooms, Chrysler has also offered substantial incentives on its vehicles that undercut the incentives offered by its domestic counterparts.
Another factor working against Chrysler is of course a price war that has been spurred by Toyota. Offering incredible financing and even free maintenance, Toyota is forcing automakers such as GM and Ford to come up with aggressive offers themselves, and this activity is simply leaving Chrysler in their dust.
* * *
Keep reading more Chrysler news right here. Subscribe now.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }