Chrysler Looks to Second Quarter For Sales Lift

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., April 14, 2004; Reuters reported that DaimlerChrysler's struggling Chrysler division should soon see an increase in sales from its lineup of all-new or redesigned cars and trucks, a senior company official said on Wednesday.

"I think in the second quarter we should start to see some lift there," said outgoing Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Bernhard, when asked how soon new products would translate into higher U.S. sales.

"Things are taking off at this point in time," Bernhard said.

He referred to, among other vehicles, the Chrysler 300, an all-new, flagship sedan.

Nine new models are coming from Chrysler and its Dodge and Jeep divisions this year, part of 25 due over the next three years. And in an industry where product is king, company officials are clearly hoping that glittering new sheet metal will give their long-running turnaround efforts traction.

"This will finally mean that Chrysler has taken off," Bernhard said of the product offensive. After a long drought, the automaker is finally getting "some air under the wings," he said.

Bernhard was appointed to head DaimlerChrysler's Mercedes-Benz unit in February and spoke to reporters at a luncheon marking the handover of his No. 2 spot at Chrysler to Tom LaSorda, a manufacturing chief hired from General Motors Corp. in 2000.

Bernhard has overseen aggressive cost-cutting efforts at Chrysler as part of a plan aimed at returning it to long-term profitability. But he has also been deeply involved in product planning and design at the automaker, and promised that that aspect of his work would give Chrysler's sales momentum going forward.

Bernhard, who takes up his new post in Germany on May 1, said there were things he would miss about Chrysler and what he called its "closely knit" management team.

But he added that the U.S. unit was "a mess" when he joined it in November 2000 and said he and other executives had saved an icon of American manufacturing from a close brush with disaster.

"It gives me great satisfaction to say the company survived," he said. "We made this company survive and brought it through a time that was pretty difficult."

"Things are taking off at this point in time," Bernhard said.

He referred to, among other vehicles, the Chrysler 300, an all-new, flagship sedan.

"This will finally mean that Chrysler has taken off," Bernhard said of the product offensive. After a long drought, the automaker is finally getting "some air under the wings," he said.

Bernhard, who takes up his new post in Germany on May 1, said there were things he would miss about Chrysler and what he called its "closely knit" management team.

But he added that the U.S. unit was "a mess" when he joined it in November 2000 and said he and other executives had saved an icon of American manufacturing from a close brush with disaster.

"It gives me great satisfaction to say the company survived," he said. "We made this company survive and brought it through a time that was pretty difficult."