Chrysler's Jim Press: "Things Aren't So Bad"
March 09, 2009
By Michelle Krebs
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Chrysler is looking for March sales to be better than those in February, a month that Chrysler President Jim Press said was not bad.
In an interview with AutoObserver.com, Press said Chrysler has in place for March all the programs that worked well in February and then some.
"It's hard to say things are good when sales were only down 25 percent [retail]. That's terrible, but it's less terrible than the industry decline of 40 percent," said the always upbeat Press. "Things aren't so bad. At 80,000 vehicles sold in February, we're doing OK. We're not paying dividends or bonuses but we're OK."
And, no, Chrysler is not making money at those sales rates, Press said, adding no one is. "Not one is making money. That's not in the cards until we are in a much more normal environment in the marketplace."
Press is lobbying to have media and analysts look at retail sales, instead of the intentionally lowered fleet sales, and focus on recent month changes instead of year-ago comparisons, which are largely irrelevant. In that regard, he insists November was a good retail month for Chrysler. Things fell off in December and Chrysler shifted its strategy. "In February, every day we exceeded our internal targets [of 6,000 vehicles sold a day]," he said.
"Looking at retail in prior months, we did pretty well. We've shown we've been able to cope in these conditions, particularly since we were the first to lose leasing and the first to encounter the credit situation," he said.
For March, Press said dealers are ordering the number of vehicles Chrysler expected. And to support continued retail sales, the automaker has left in place the hefty incentives that were on its vehicles in February. Edmunds.com, parent of AutoObserver.com, estimates Chrysler spent about $5,556 per vehicle in incentives in February, an industry and a Chrysler-all-time high, but Chrysler has disputed Edmunds.com's calculation as being too high.
Press argues that Chrysler's February incentives looked higher than its competitors because it had more 2008 inventory to sell. However, he insists, transaction prices on 2009 models "are pretty much in line with competitors in most cases."
In addition, Chrysler has added a no-charge Hemi V8 engine option on its trucks in March, a month with the advantage of more selling days than February. Chrysler has extended its relationships with credit unions and now Chase bank.
"Perhaps the rate of decline [in auto sales] will slow down," said Press, estimating the retail Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate to come in at about 8 million units, up from February.
Things aren't so rosy, however, that Chrysler can forego government funding. Chrysler has requested an additional $2 billion in loans. President Obama's automotive task force in Detroit Monday visiting a Chrysler manufacturing plant and General Motors' research center.
"If we get funded, we're viable and can continue to invest in future," Press said. "If we get the relationship with Fiat, we'll go from viable to being in really good shape."
Posted by Michelle Krebs at 7:11 AM under Chrysler , Personalities | Comments (1) | digg this | Seed Newsvine
"If we get some beer, we can have a beer and pretzel party if we get some pretzels.
Posted by: fulcrumb | March 10, 2009 at 9:38 PM