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The obvious answer is not. But MAN did the beleaguered American automaker get bent out of shape when analysts did the math on Daimler’s financial report and reckoned Chrysler dropped $2.7b in Q4. Chrysler told TTAC (and the world) that they had “positive operational earnings,” and confirmed (to us) that they meant honest-to-God profits. As we pointed out, that kinda conflicted with Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli’s previous statement. The ChryCo jeffe admitted that Chrysler was “operationally bankrupt” (which also triggered a PR offensive in all senses of the word). And now we read in The Detroit News that Bob Nardelli addressed cash flow in his usual “we’re privately hel so we can move fast and not have to pander to stockholders with ‘the collective attention span of kindergarteners.’” “Yes, We don’t have to worry about over-reaction in the market,” Nardelli told Daniel Howes. “We are still on track to deliver a positive cash flow. We are not there yet.” So what exactly does “positive operational earnings” mean, then? You know, other than something a lot less than the truth. 

The Detroit News »

11 Responses to “
Does Chrysler Make a Profit or Not? ”

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• dastanley :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  12:20 am

  Of course Nardelli’s full of crap.

  Why scare off the few potential customers that are on the fence about buying Chrysler’s products? You know, the ones that Nardelli assumes are lazy, stupid, and don’t do their homework, taking his blanket statements at face value before plunking down major coin for a new Chrysler vehicle?

  And don’t forget Nardelli’s ego is on the line.

• offroadinfrontier :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  12:24 am

  dastanley, you might be surprised at the number of “assumed” at actually ARE…

  I wonder how many fell for the “lifetime powertrain warranty” ads…

• dastanley :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  12:34 am

  offroadinfrontier,

  I hear ya, I hear ya…

  BTW, how does Chrysler define “lifetime powertrain warranty” ads? The lifetime of the owner, the car, the powertrain? If it’s the powertrain, then how convenient - as soon as the engine or tranny breaks, then the lifetime is now over. I would hope not.

  On a completely unrelated topic, when is someone at TTAC going to test the new Nissan GT-R? I just read about in in M—- T—- and it sounds awesome!

• peoplewatching04 :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  1:38 am

  Isn’t the average Chrysler owner what, 110 years old? Whether the “lifetime powertrain warranty” is the car’s or the buyer’s, the length of time is probably the same (~2 years).

• Frank Williams :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  7:42 am

  dastanley

  BTW, how does Chrysler define “lifetime powertrain warranty” ads? The lifetime of the owner, the car, the powertrain?

  The warranty is valid only for the original purchaser, so it’s for their lifetime, provided they follow specific maintenance and inspection requirements performed by the dealer.

• George Labrador :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  7:45 am

  Anyone buying any Chrysler product is taking there life in there hands or as they say losing your Money up front! From listening to people in the repair trade, there Transmissions on all there products are still not up to standard and after all these years, makes one wonder eh? At least people in the USA have a lifetime warranty, that is not extended to us Canadians though, so I will never buy a Chrysler product ever again! just on principal!

• menno :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  7:55 am

  With pure logic used, if DaimlerChrysler dumped the vast majority of their Chrysler portion - which they did - because it wasn’t making any money and was ergo, losing money - and since the time of that give away / transaction to Cereberus, the economy has tanked (despite the lies/statistics/damn lies of the government which does not want to show a Recession existing in an election year - gasp!) and since Chrysler products have not improved one iota since Daimler, and since sales and production volumes are down, and since bad publicity is up, and since the company gave up on the highly competitive C-class sedan market (previously filled with the junque-heap-POS Neon) completely and since the company’s all-important D-class sedans are the worst on the market bar none (even worse than the Pontiac G6 which is saying something) - then I would conclude that Cereberus is losing it’s shirt.

• timd38 :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  10:43 am

  Chapter 11 sooner than later…..

• SherbornSean :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  12:41 pm

  The fact that Daimler wrote down the value of their stake to a quarter of what it was a year ago tells you how profitable Chrysler is (not).

• oboylepr :
  
  
  May 4th, 2008 at
  2:08 pm

  Around where I live in Ontario someone must be giving them away. There are Jeep Compass(s) showing up all over the place (all seem to be dark green!). By the looks of them Chrsyler is doing it’s best to cheapen the Jeep brand. Sad.

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