Chrysler President Jim Press says company is on the road to recovery

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Chrysler, along with the rest of the world wide automotive industry, is driving into a very gusty and unforgiving economic headwind.

New car sales are down to about 10 to 12 million vehicles per year in North America, and many consumers have lost trust in the quality and ingenuity of the U.S. auto manufactures.

It is with this backdrop that Jim Press, Vice-Chairman and President of Chrysler came to Denver today to meet with the local Chrysler dealers and press.

"We are a start-up company and we started 17-months ago," Press said to a small group of local reporters. He went on to paint a picture of a company that has turned itself around by cutting cost, cutting jobs, and cutting models.

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"Clearly what we are doing is working," he added. In his estimate the biggest problem that Chrysler currently faces is the lack of financing options for car buyers. "Our biggest problem has been getting our customer financing," he said. Chrysler no longer offers car leases but they are still available through local banks and leasing companies.

The company has instituted a new marketing program with the help of the federal bailout that provides potential Chrysler car buyers

a) employee pricing

b) up to $6000

c) zero percent financing Press went on went on to say.

Chrysler has also just signed a non-binding letter of intent with Fiat that would give the Italian car manufacture a 35 percent stake in Chrysler in exchange for technical know how and a ready made product line of small fuel efficient cars such as the very popular Fiat 500.

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Press said that this is a "win win win" with Fiat getting access to Chrysler's shuttered production lines and dealer network. In exchange Chrysler is getting access to European consumers through Fiat.

The details of the partnership are yet to be hammered out, and Press did not go into the exact details as to how this might play out with the American public considering the recent Federal bailout money Chrysler received in the way of bridge loans.

Currently Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region account for 11.7 percent of Chrysler's total North America sales according to Fred Diaz the Director of the Denver Business Center.

That's the second highest percentage out the Chrysler's eight national sales regions. The Chrysler pick-up trucks and the Jeep Wrangler are the biggest and best sellers in Colorado Diaz added.

Press concluded that Chrysler is committed to building more fuel efficient cars and hybrids, but he said the lack of batteries is currently the biggest stumbling block to progress.

We don't want to exchange our dependency on foreign oil for a dependency on foreign batteries he said.

 

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Roman Mica
Roman Mica is a publisher, columnist, journalist, and author, who spent his early years driving fast on the German autobahn. When he’s not reviewing cars or producing videos, you can find him training for triathlons and writing about endurance sports for EverymanTri.com as our sister blog’s publisher. Mica is a former broadcast reporter with his Master’s Degree in journalism from Northwestern University. He is also a presenter for TFLcar’s very popular video review channels on YouTube.