Autoblog

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]

Now that Ford's got a new captain at the helm, it's full steam ahead for the "Way Forward." According to Reuters, Ford's board of directors will be instituting the second stage of its plan and is expected to release an overview of the strategy later today. Some of the proposals to be announced include a 30 percent reduction in white collar workers and a new pricing strategy, with more details to follow over the course of the month.

The proposals come on the heels of the first wave of "Way Forward" transformations, including plans to reduce the company's hourly workforce by 30,000 jobs and close 12 plants by 2012. The Way Forward plan so far has yet to produce the results Ford was hoping for, according to critics and analysts.

[Source: Reuters]

Facing the ignominy of huge dealer inventory and falling behind Toyota for 2nd place in July sales, Ford has decided to let anybody with a pulse finance one of its cars. Well, you do have to have some credit, but Ford is lowering the bar in this new incentive drive to include buyers with sub-prime credit ratings. By allowing customers the option of 0% financing for up to 72 months on every Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury (except the Ford GT and certain F-Series pickups), Ford hopes to jump start a stagnant summer and reclaim 2nd place. Incentives have already started and will continue through Labor Day.

[Source: Automotive News - sub required]

At the Mackinac Policy Conference in Michigan on Thursday, Chrysler president and CEO Tom LaSorda said he plans to call on George W. Bush to confront Japan about an artificially low yen rate that he maintains unfairly allows Japanese automakers up to a $3,000 advantage per vehicle over their American counterparts. LaSorda said that he, Rick Wagoner and Bill Ford plan to raise this topic, along with health care and energy policy, with President Bush in a meeting scheduled for later this month.

LaSorda drew attention to the 1.8 million Japanese vehicles that are still being imported into the United States, and although this number has decreased since years past, parts imported from Japan continue to exacerbate the issue.

[Source: Reuters]