It's up and down, but nowhere near out for Chrysler, LLC. The Big Three's smallest sibling says that it's ahead of internal estimates and has posted earnings in excess of one billion for the first half of '08. True, the company also posted a $510 million loss in Q1 according to minority shareholder Daimler. And since Chrysler is privately held, it doesn't need to tell anyone whether these earnings put it in the red or black.But whatever's on the books was good enough to convince lenders to grant Chrysler's financial arm a $24 billion line of credit. Said a Chrysler spokesman, the money will be used to "support our dealers and their retail customers." The pentastar just got out of the leasing business, so the influx of credit will keep the financial arm doing what it needs to do as all those remaining lease vehicles come back with empty tanks and bottomed-out residuals. And believe it or not, those are all good things.
[Source: Detroit News]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MemphisNET @ Aug 4th 2008 10:39AM
""Chrysler will be able to escape the bullet that has hit Ford and General Motors, both of which are getting hit hard by declining residual values of vehicles coming off lease. Part of the deal Cerberus made with Daimler leaves the German automaker holding the bag for residual values of vehicles leased before August 2007.""
http://www.allpar.com/news/#ni1542
Love it :D
Robert Kamanzi @ Aug 4th 2008 11:05AM
Finally somewhat of a good news coming from Cerberus owned Chrysler LLC. Let's hope that that money will be available to Chrysler for future product development. I always felt bad for all the bad things that happened to Chrysler. I hope they will put that money to good use and invest it in small cars. It looked like they did a good job with the '09 Dodge Ram (interior, exterior, engine, pretty much everything) only to hit the $5/ gal barrier. Let's hope it's not too late.
mk @ Aug 4th 2008 11:09AM
I hope they use this, rather than just letting it go up in smoke.
Debt is no light matter. It is only a tool if you use it very, very effectively and well.
I hope they do, but I am not so sure they will.
Sometimes more debt is just more cocaine to a crack addict, and prolongs the inevitable rehab or OD.
zamafir @ Aug 4th 2008 11:23AM
What is the line of credit linked to? weren't they leveraging all their assets a few quarters ago?
Steve @ Aug 4th 2008 11:31AM
This is NOT good news. In fact, this news should be greeted with concern for Chrysler. They fell short of their refinancing targets, implying both that lenders are still extremely concerned about their prospects and that the cost of both their existing and future debt will keep going up, further putting strain on Chrysler's cash.
On a side note, if I recall the numbers correctly, that billion dollars of "earnings" were operational profits, which is a very vague term. At the very least, it does not account for taxes, depreciation and interest, the last of which is the pressing concern for a highly levered company such as Chrylser.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=aVVSr4kuOAR0
andre @ Aug 4th 2008 11:31AM
Chrysler Falls Short of $30 Billion Goal in Financing Renewal
By Mike Ramsey and Bill Koenig
Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler Financial's failure to get all of the $30 billion in renewed funding it sought may further restrict the lending unit's ability to support auto sales to Chrysler LLC customers and its dealers.
Chrysler Financial said yesterday it obtained $24 billion from a group of lenders, 20 percent below its target. The Farmington Hills, Michigan-based lender attributed the shortfall to ``conditions in the credit markets and changes in the company's retail strategy.'' The finance unit stopped offering leases on Aug. 1 because of rising borrowing costs.
Sean Flanagan @ Aug 4th 2008 11:41AM
Where can I get myself a $24B line of credit by continually being broke? I'm good at that! Hell, I bet I could pay it back easier than Chrysler could.
iOrange @ Aug 4th 2008 11:53AM
Keep in mind this is for Chrysler Financial, not Chrysler Motors.. This is supporting finance customers and dealers, not new vehicle development.