DaimlerChrysler drives into the red

VEHICLE manufacturer DaimlerChrysler plunged into losses in the fourth quarter of last year as a result of the costs of restructuring its North American operations. The loss was e39m compared with net income of e1.4bn in the fourth quarter of 2000.

Providing its first divisional breakdown for 2001, DaimlerChrysler also said its US car manufacturing business ran up operating losses of almost e2.2bn (£1.34bn). It also disclosed heavy operating losses at Freightliner, its US commercial vehicles division. Continued profitability is largely dependent on its global sales of luxury Mercedes-Benz passenger car.

Last autumn DaimlerChrysler sent ex-Mercedes executive Dieter Zetsche to the US to fix Chrysler. But earlier this month the group slashed its 2002 profits forecast from between e5.5bn and e6.5bn to only e2.6bn and cut its annual dividend from e2.35 to e1. The shares, down 16% this year, slipped 40 cents to e40.35.