BLK 6050

I found this on another site...Good News? Perhaps there is hope after all that we will see a 2010 Challenger....and of course even more important...a 2010 Chrysler....fingers crossed...)

Incentives help Chrysler market share
It seeks $3 billion more in U.S. loans

BY JUSTIN HYDE • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • January 28, 2009


LINTHICUM HEIGHTS, Md. Chrysler LLC's new incentives have given it more market share this month, even as the auto industry's sales remain depressed, Chrysler President Jim Press said.
In a roundtable with reporters Tuesday, Press also said the company needed an additional $3 billion in federal assistance to survive the first quarter, and that the deal with Fiat SpA would help Chrysler make the case that it can survive a withering recession.
Chrysler sales fell 53% in December, capping a 30% drop for all of 2008, and the company had shut all its North American plants for a month, choking off revenues.
The company rolled out an incentive program last week offering employee pricing discounts, zero-percent loans and rebates up to $6,000. The deals came after Chrysler's financial arm received a $1.5-billion infusion from the government's bank rescue funds.
"We're starting to get some traction on our products," Press said, adding that buyers were shifting back to trucks given the low gasoline prices.
He estimated total U.S. vehicle sales were running at an annual rate of about 10 million vehicles this month, in line with the weak pace from December.
Chrysler has to file a plan with federal regulators for making the company viable by Feb. 17; if the Obama administration isn't satisfied by the company's progress by March 31, it can call back the $4-billion loan granted this month.
Chrysler officials have said they needed $7 billion to survive the downturn, and been intensely lobbying for an additional $3 billion by March 31, but the Obama administration has not agreed yet.
Press said the money was necessary now because the first quarter of the year is usually the toughest, with high costs and low revenues, but that Chrysler could survive in a U.S. market with 10 million sales a year without additional government aid beyond the $7-billion request.
"I can't tell you the lights will go out on April 1," Press said. "But unless something changed, that's the time when we need the funds."

RLSH700

The road is covered with fog. We don't know what is on the path in front of us. I just hope Chrysler is going to come out of this alive. I hope that the politicians do the opposite of what I think they will do. I hope Jim Press, Thomas LaSorda, and Bob Nardelli take a page from Iacocca and tell the UAW the truth about the situation that they need to take a temporary pay cut in order to survive, they also need to do this at all levels to keep Chrysler afloat as they are driving on a donut and cannot afford to drive at full speed right now.