Chrysler reaches out

NORFOLK, Va. -- Chrysler LLC is open to buying models from other automakers similar to its agreement with Nissan, and has sped up its plans for more fuel-efficient models in light of fuel prices, CEO Bob Nardelli said Friday.

Nardelli also said the automaker was closely monitoring the economy, but didn't see the need to make drastic changes because of record oil prices or surging commodity costs as Ford Motor Co. did Thursday.

"We thought we were being extremely aggressive in our conservative view" of 2008, Nardelli said. "As it turns out we may have been spot-on."

Chrysler and Nissan Motor Co. announced a deal last month in which the two automakers will share some specific vehicles, allowing Chrysler to get a Nissan-made small car to sell under one of its brands in North America and elsewhere. In return, Chrysler will build a pickup for Nissan to sell in the United States.

Nardelli said that any further decisions would be based on market demand, and if Chrysler couldn't build a model itself, it would have few worries of selling another automaker's vehicle under its brand. He did not name any automakers.

"We will not suffer from the not-invented-here syndrome," Nardelli said. "If we can have similar arrangements ... and it makes financial sense and supports our dealer network relative to what customers are telling them they want, we're going to go do it."

The privately held Chrysler has been forced to take severe steps in order to survive the U.S. economic downturn. Since August, it has eliminated as many as 12,000 jobs and four products, announcing plant closures and cutting back on unprofitable fleet sales.

As gas prices near $4 a gallon nationwide, Chrysler has been among the hardest-hit automakers as customers put off new-car purchases or moved into smaller vehicles. Chrysler's sales are down 18% so far this year compared with 2007, while sales of pickups, SUVs and minivans that dominate Chrysler's lineup have fallen 23%.

Nardelli said while Chrysler was monitoring the market, and had seen the same rise in prices for commodities such as steel that Ford noted Thursday, it had not yet been forced to make substantial alterations in its plans such as additional layoffs.

"We think we're good today; we'll continue to sense as we go forward," he said, adding that the company was still meeting its financial targets.

While Chrysler's first hybrid models arrive later this year -- versions of the Chrysler Aspen and Dodge Durango full-size SUVs -- it has been quiet about future models. Nardelli said in addition to hybrids, Chrysler was looking at extended-range electric vehicles, similar to what General Motors Corp. will attempt with the Chevrolet Volt, with help from suppliers or partnering with other manufacturers.

"We are accelerating our technology in response to the environment," Nardelli said. "We can't bet on every technology as some companies can. Hybrid, electric -- if you're at the roulette table, those are the two numbers we're betting on."

Nardelli also said the government should consider incentives for environmentally friendly vehicles that are built domestically. The current federal hybrid tax credits make no distinction between imports and domestic models.

Chrysler, along with most other major automakers, has been fighting California and other states that want to set strict standards on global-warming emissions from cars and trucks. Nardelli said industry executives, including Jim Press, a Chrysler president and vice chairman, had a "pretty productive" meeting with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger earlier this month.

The sides discussed how the California rules "might be modified so manufacturers can really operationalize something like that," he said. "I was very encouraged with the meeting."

Nardelli came to Norfolk to mark a $100,000 donation from the Chrysler Foundation to the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation, and to hand over the keys to a World War II Jeep for the museum...

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