Chyrsler Chief Zetsche: Break-even in 2003

FRANKFURT, June 7, 2003; Reuters reported that Chrysler chief executive Dieter Zetsche said in an interview on Saturday the company would reach break-even this year and return to profit in 2004.

"We will just reach break-even this year. It will be better in 2004. I strongly expect that we will be in the black," Zetsche said in an interview in Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper released in advance of publication on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Chrysler's German parent DaimlerChrysler cut its full-year profit forecast and blamed a fiercely competitive U.S. market for a 1.0 billion euro operating loss at Chrysler in the second quarter.

The world's fifth biggest carmaker, battling to return Chrysler to sustainable profits after it dragged the group into losses two and a half years ago, now aims for a 2003 group operating profit of about 5 billion euros ($5.86 billion).

The shock announcement, made on Tuesday after the U.S. and German stock markets closed, led Standard & Poor's to cut its rating outlook on DaimlerChrysler's debt to "negative" and to describe the new Chrysler forecast as "staggering."

Zetsche told Welt am Sonntag Chrysler was tightening up on costs and hoped to save an additional one billion dollars in the current year.