Troubled German car maker DaimlerChrysler said today it made an operating loss of between euro 800 million and euro one billion in the first quarter but repeated its loss-making Chrysler unit was set to return to profit in 2002.
The German auto giant is in the middle of implementing a $4 billion recovery plan for its US unit Chrysler. The company said the loss was in line with expectations and that the overhaul at Chrysler was on track.
DaimlerChrysler has said Chrysler is set to post a loss of around euro 2.2 to euro 2.6 billion in 2001.
The unit's enormous losses dragged the whole group into the red in the fourth quarter of 2000 and led to a dive in the company's shares to a four-year low of euro 42.70 at the end of December.
DaimlerChrysler has pledged to get Chrysler back into the black in 2002 by cutting 26,000 jobs, cutting materials costs by 15 per cent over three years and sharing parts and some platforms with Mitsubishi cars.
Chief executive Mr Juergen Schrempp's future at the firm depends on the success of his overhaul plan as he was the main architect of the 1998 takeover of Chrysler by Daimler-Benz, which has turned sour.